About 84 percent of the adult Omani population suffer from headaches, according to a survey carried out by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).
The findings of the study were revealed Wednesday by Dr Dirk Delue, head of SQU's pharmacology department, while addressing the second AGCC neurology symposium at the Grand Hyatt Muscat, as cited by the Dubai-based Gulf News.
He noted that tension headaches were more prevalent than migraines –12 per cent against 10 percent.
"Chronic daily headaches (transformed migraine and tension-type headache) affect about 15 per cent of the Omani population and accounts for 45 percent of patients who seek help in tertiary referral centres," he said in the paper he presented at the meeting.
"Despite the widespread disability produced by migraines and the increasing availability of effective treatment, several primary headache disorders remain under-diagnosed and under-treated."
The symposium, the first of its kind in Oman meant to highlight recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the brain and other parts of the nervous system, is being attended by specialists from Mayo Clinic, the USA, University of Ottawa, Canada, and King Faisal and Armed Forces Hospital, Saudi Arabia, along with leading neurologists from other GCC states and Lebanon, said the paper.
The two-day event has been organised by the Oman Medical Speciality Board in association with the Pan-Arab Union of Neurology Sciences – Albawaba.com
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