Menstrual migraine in university students

IntroductionMigraine is a chronic neurological disease that mostly affects women, mainly due to hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle. It is estimated that menstrual migraine (MM) affects around 6% of women in reproductive age and, despite this, remains underdiagnosed, mostly due to lack of epidemiological data.ObjectiveThis study aims to analyze the prevalence and impacts of menstrual migraine in students at a university in the south of Santa Catarina, Brazil.MethodsWe developed a cross-sectional analytical observational study carried out with 613 female students from a university in the south of Santa Catarina. A self-administered online questionnaire was created based on the ICHD-3 migraine diagnostic criteria and the HIT-6 questionnaire, internationally validated for measuring the impacts of headaches. Furthermore, personal and sociodemographic data were collected.ResultsA prevalence of approximately 12% (n=71) of female students who met the criteria for MM was found among the 613 participants, with a mean age of 24.87 ± 6.96 years. Of these, 50.7% were using hormonal contraceptive methods, mostly combined oral contraceptives with hormone-free interval. Regarding the impacts generated by MM, 69% of the participants had a severe impact on functionality, according to the HIT-6 questionnaire, and 43.6% reported abstaining from their leisure activities approximately 1 to 4 times in the last year due to MM.ConclusionThe results suggest that the prevalence of MM is important among the studied population and contributes to severe impacts on daily activities.