Prevalence of migraine among university students at Parakou, Benin: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of migraine and its associated factors in students at the University of Parakou. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out from February 1st to April 30th 2011. It included all students registered during the academic year 2010-2011 and selected by systematic random sampling. Migraine was defined according to IHS 2004 criteria. To assess the link between migraine and body mass index we collected height and weight of each student. Multivariate analysis was used to study the factors associated with migraine, odds-ratio and their confidence interval were estimated. SPSS Software was used to perform statistical analysis. Results: During the study period 1200, students returned their questionnaires. They were 842 males and 358 females. 171 fulfilled migraine criteria, and the overall prevalence of migraine was 14.2% (CI 95%: 11.6%-17.4%). The main associated factors were the sex with an OR: 2.3 (CI 95%: 1.6-3.2) and family history of headache with an OR: 1.6 (CI 95%: 1.1-2.4). Migraine with aura was the frequent form (59.1%) and visual aura the frequent form of aura. No association was found between migraine and body mass index but students with obesity had high risk of migraine with aura OR: 3.8 (CI 95%: 1.5-9.7) compared with those with normal weight. The main triggering factors were sleeplessness (90.1%) and mental fatigue (85.4%). Conclusion: The results suggest a high prevalence of migraine among students at Parakou University and no association between obesity and migraine .