Principles & Practice of Pain Medicine > Part IV. Pain by Anatomic Location > A. Head and Neck > Chapter 17. Epidemiology of Headaches Sandra W. Hamelsky, Walter F. Stewart, and Richard B. Lipton

Epidemiology of Headaches: Introduction

"Headache is a common pain symptom that inflicts a substantial burden on individual sufferers and on society. Headache has many causes; a range of headache diagnoses was defined by the International Headache Society (IHS) in 1988.¹ The IHS distinguishes two broad groups of headache disorders: primary headache disorders and secondary headache disorders. Secondary headache disorders result from an underlying condition, such as a sinus infection or brain tumor. In primary headache disorders, the headache disorder is the fundamental problem. The two most common types of primary headache disorders are episodic tension-type headache (ETTH) and migraine...."