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- Title
Scuba Diving Is Not Associated With High Prevalence of Headache: A Cross-Sectional Study in Men.
- Authors
Di Fabio, Roberto; Vanacore, Nicola; Davassi, Chiara; Serrao, Mariano; Pierelli, Francesco
- Abstract
Objective.- To study the prevalence of cephalalgia in male divers. Background.- Scuba divers work in stressing environments and have a high cerebrovascular risk, both conditions which are supposed to contribute to the genesis of cephalalgia. However, no study assessed expressly the prevalence of cephalalgia in divers, to date. Methods.- We enrolled 201 professional male scuba divers (41.0 ± 7.2 years) and controls (41.1 ± 7.2 years), and the risk ratio and its corresponding 95% confidence of suffering from cephalalgia was calculated. Results.- We found that 16% of divers and 22% of matched controls were affected by cephalalgia ( P > .05), accounting for a risk ratio of 0.71 (95% CI 0.47-1.07). Divers reported fewer attacks per month (1.8 ± 0.7, n = 32) with regard to controls (2.5 ± 1.8, n = 45) ( P = .02), but no differences concerning age at onset and severity were detected ( P > .05). Divers suffered from migraine, migraine with aura and tension headache as much as controls. Conclusion.- Scuba diving, an intense physical activity characterized by cerebral micro-vascular distress, is not associated with cephalalgia, as a whole, or migraine, tension headache or migraine with aura, more commonly than in a matched, non-diving, population. A longitudinal study may disclose if diving may act as a protective factor in the occurrence of crises of cephalalgia. ( Headache 2012;52:385-392)
- Subjects
CONFIDENCE intervals; HEADACHE; MIGRAINE; SCUBA diving; STATISTICS; T-test (Statistics); TENSION headache; DATA analysis; RELATIVE medical risk; DISEASE prevalence; CROSS-sectional method; CASE-control method; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
Headache: The Journal of Head & Face Pain, 2012, Vol 52, Issue 3, p385
- ISSN
0017-8748
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1526-4610.2011.01994.x