The burdens attributable to headache disorders in Cameroon: national estimates from a population-based door-to-door survey, including a headache-care needs assessment

Background: We have previously shown headache to be highly prevalent in Cameroon. Here we present the attributed burden. We also perform a headache-care needs assessment.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey among adults (18-65 years) in the general population. Multistage cluster-sampling in four regions (Centre, Littoral, West and Adamawa), home to almost half the country's population, generated a representative sample. We used the standardised methodology of the Global Campaign against Headache, including the HARDSHIP questionnaire, with diagnostic questions based on ICHD-3 and enquiries into symptom burden, impaired participation (lost productivity and disengagement from social activity), quality of life (QoL) using WHOQoL-8, and willingness to pay (WTP) for effective care. We defined headache care "need" in terms of likelihood of benefit, counting all those with probable medication-overuse headache (pMOH) or other headache on ≥ 15 days/month (H15 +), with migraine on ≥ 3 days/month, or with migraine or tension-type headache (TTH) and meeting either of two criteria: a) proportion of time in ictal state (pTIS) > 3.3% and intensity ≥ 2 (moderate-to-severe); or b) ≥ 3 lost days from paid and/or household work in the preceding 3 months.

Results: Among 3,100 participants, mean frequency of any headache was 6.7 days/month, mean duration 13.0 h and mean intensity 2.3 (moderate). Mean pTIS was 9.8%, which (with prevalence factored in) diluted to 6.1-7.4% of all time in the population. Most time was spent with H15 + (5.3% of all time), followed by TTH (1.0%) and migraine (0.8%). For all headache, mean lost days/3 months were 3.4 from paid work, 3.0 from household work and 0.6 from social/leisure activities, diluting to 2.5, 2.2 and 0.6 days/3 months in the population. QoL (no headache: 27.9/40) was adversely impacted by pMOH (25.0) and other H15 + (26.0) but not by migraine (28.0) or TTH (28.0). WTP (maximally XAF 4,462.40 [USD 7.65] per month) was not significantly different between headache types. An estimated 37.0% of adult Cameroonians need headache care.

Conclusion: Headache disorders in Cameroon are not only prevalent but also associated with high attributed burden, with heavily impaired participation. Headache-care needs are very high, but so are the economic costs of not providing care.