Burden of Tension Headache in Iran and Ccomparison with Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Countries during 1990-2019

Tension-type headache is a common primary headache disorder characterized by vague, non-throbbing, diffuse, band-like pain of mild to moderate intensity in the head, skull, or neck. In this article, we report the disease burden of tension headache in Iran and its comparison with Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries during 1990-2019. For more information see the full-text of Burden of tension-type headache in the Middle East and North Africa region, 1990-2019 at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35794530/.

The diagnostic criterion for tension headache is according to International classification of headache disorders (ICHD-3). In the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project, the burden of disease is estimated as years of life lost due to disease Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), which is the years of life lost (YLLs) due to premature mortality and Years lived with disability (YLDs). Because the GBD does not estimate any deaths from headache disorders as a primary cause, DALYs for headache are equivalent to YLDs.

In Iran in 2019, the prevalence of tension headache is estimated at 25.8 million (95% UI Uncertainty Interval: 22.8-28.8). Age standard prevalence was 29640.4 (26202.1-32949.4) per 100.000 population, which has increased by 9.7% (6.5 to 13.1%) compared to 1990. In Iran in 2019, the incidence of tension headache was estimated to be around 8.4 million (95% UI: 74.1-95.0). Age standard incidence was 9837.5 (8687.5-11030.7) per 100.000 population, which has increased by about 5.3% (1.9-7.9%) compared to 1990. In Iran, in 2019, the number of YLDs was 70,182 (23015-207136) years. Age standard was 77.6 (24.9 – 236.4) per 100.000 population, which has increased by 5.2% (5.7-15.9%) compared to 1990.

The study showed that in 2019, the prevalence, incidence and standardized YLDs of due to tension headache in Iran had the highest rate among all 21 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It has also increased the more compared to 1990.