Introduction
Medication-overuse headache (MOH) has been called a biobehavioural disorder.
Aim
In this cross-sectional study, we investigated associations between MOH and health-related behaviours as indicated by daily smoking, physical activity, and body mass index.
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Methods
129,150 randomly selected individuals aged >16 years were given self-administered questionnaires on general health, headache frequency, over-the-counter (OTC) analgesic use, and health behaviour. Respondents with chronic headache (>15 days/month over three months) with concurrent over-the-counter analgesic intake of >15 days/month were classified as having MOH. Associations between MOH and health behaviours were analyzed by logistic regression controlled for sociodemographic factors. All analyses were adjusted for stratified sampling and non-response.
Results
There were 68,518 respondents. Among the 1,082 people with MOH, 34.2% were daily smokers, 48.4% were physically inactive, 57.7% were overweight/obese, and 72.0% had at least one of these three health risk factors. The group with MOH was significantly different from all other respondents in terms of prevalence of these factors (p<0.0001). MOH was significantly associated with daily smoking (odds ratio [OR] 1.5), physical inactivity (OR 1.8), and obesity (OR 1.7). Having all three health risk factors was even more strongly associated with MOH (OR 3.1 in women and OR 5.5 in men).
Conclusion
Unhealthy lifestyle may be a modifiable risk factor for headache chronification and medication overuse. Health behaviour counseling should be part of MOH management.
No conflict of interest.
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