Do you often deal with migraine headaches? If so, you’re far from alone.
A new study reveals that almost 1 in 3 people around the world live with some kind of headache disorder. That adds up to nearly 3 billion people globally, showing just how widespread this issue really is.
The study, which will be published in The Lancet Neurology in December, shows that women are hit hardest by headache disorders. They experience more than twice the amount of headache-related health problems over their lifetimes compared to men.
According to lead investigator Yvonne Xu, a research scientist at the University of Washington, women tend to have headaches more often and for longer periods.
That’s why their level of disability from headaches is so much higher. She says it’s important to recognize this difference so that better ways to prevent and manage headaches can be created worldwide.
To understand the burden of headaches around the world, the researchers analyzed health data from nearly 42,000 people across 18 countries. They looked at the year 2023 and estimated how much time people spent living with headaches that affected their daily lives.
This was measured using a statistic called “years lived with disability” or YLD. It shows how long people live with a health condition that limits their ability to function normally.
Headaches ranked as the sixth biggest cause of disability in the world. On average, they caused 542 years of disability for every 100,000 people. But the numbers were even worse for women. Women experienced 740 years of disability per 100,000 people, compared to 364 per 100,000 for men.
No matter what age group researchers looked at, women always spent more time dealing with headaches than men.
Most of this burden came from migraines, which account for about 90% of all headache-related disability. While tension headaches are more common, they cause less severe problems. Migraines caused almost 488 years of disability per 100,000 people. In contrast, tension headaches caused about 54 years of disability per 100,000.
The study also warned that many people are making their headaches worse by using too many pain medications. Overusing these medicines can actually trigger more headaches, a condition known as medication-overuse headache.
This was a significant issue among both men and women. Among men with migraines, nearly 23% of their disability came from medication overuse. For women, that number was 14%. When it came to tension headaches, the numbers were even higher—59% for men and 56% for women.
Lead researcher Andreas Kattem Husøy from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology emphasized that much of this suffering is preventable. He suggested that better access to headache treatment in primary care, especially in low- and middle-income countries, could help reduce the number of people affected and improve quality of life for millions.
In short, headaches are not just annoying—they are a serious global health issue. And for many people, especially women, they are a daily struggle that affects their work, relationships, and overall well-being. With more awareness and better access to care, many of these headaches—and their consequences—can be avoided.
If you care about pain, please read studies about how to manage gout with a low-purine diet, and a guide to eating right for arthritis.
For more health information, please see recent studies about the link between processed foods and chronic diseases, and avoid these 8 foods to ease arthritis pain.
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