[Impact of headache among studied military population in Afghanistan deployed in the Kabul military field hospital]

Introduction: Headaches are a common reason for consultation with a prevalence of 30%. Few data exist for military personnel, including in situations of war operations. The main objective of this work was to measure the evolution of the impact of headache in such a context.

Materials and methods: Two hundred and one personnel deployed in the Kaïa military field hospital in Afghanistan were recruited. A questionnaire designed to recognize headaches, supported by two quality of life scales (MIDAS and HIT-6) and a stress questionnaire were filled out before departure and upon return from missions.

Discussion: Sixty-three patients with headache were initially identified, of whom 52 remained symptomatic during the mission. The average total score of MIDAS before departure was 4 days and fell to 1.4 days upon return, with a mean measured change of 3.3 days. For HIT-6, the mean total score was 51.2 points initially and 51.9 points at the end of the mission with a mean change of-0.3 points. Nine patients without headache initially became symptomatic: MIDAS and HIT-6 were not affected.

Conclusion: Thus, the impact of headache in the particular context of presence in a theater of operations was low: improved MIDAS score and the lack of influence on the HIT-6 score are underlined.