Women are more affected in their daily lives

From 15 minutes to 3 hours, this is the maximum duration of a cluster headache attack, which is also called a cluster headache. This rare condition is characterized by a severe, one-sided headache often accompanied by nasal congestion or a runny nose and sometimes drooping eyelids, tearing, and facial flushing. to me MSD Handbook“,”The headache usually occurs over a period of one to three months, followed by a headache-free period of several months or years“.

Cluster headaches have not been diagnosed in women

Cluster headaches have been described as a male-dominated disease. But according to two studies published in the journal NeurologyWomen with this disease are more affected by symptoms in their daily lives than men. So the periods of pain will be longer and more frequent. They will also take more medication and will be on sick leave more often for this reason.

“Often, cluster headaches in women are still misdiagnosed, possibly because some aspects may be similar to migraines. Explain Andrea Carmine Bellen, author of these works. Doctors need to be aware of how the disorder presents differently in men and women so that the most effective treatment can be given as quickly as possible.In fact, there will be three to five times more diagnoses of this disease in men than in women.

To measure the difference between the sexes, the researchers looked at data from 874 participants with cluster headaches. They all had to complete a questionnaire about their lifestyle, symptoms, and treatments. Thus, twice as many women had the chronic variant of this disease as women, meaning they had less than three months a year without symptoms. “Men and women report the same level of pain, but since women’s periods of pain tend to last longer, their daily lives are also affected more heavily.Developed by Andrea Carmine Bellin.

Women suffer more from the symptoms of cluster headaches

Scientists also found that women have more symptoms than men: ptosis (61% vs. 47%), insomnia (54% vs. 46%), sleep disturbances, night shifts. Finally, 15% of women, compared to only 7% of men, had a parent who also had cluster headaches.

“It’s hard to say what caused these differences, but what we found was that woman (…) You tend to have a more severe form of the disease and it’s time to stop thinking of cluster headaches as being male-dominated“, Caroline Ran saysa researcher specializing in the Department of Neurosciences at the Karolinska Institutet.

Another gender difference: Many women with cluster headaches had at least one other illness. Thus, 96% of women among 3,240 patients with cluster headache in Sweden in 2010 had at least one other disease diagnosed, compared with 90% among men. Women also took more vacations and early retirement.

“What is remarkable is that most women with cluster headaches have a common comorbidity, reinforcing the idea that these women suffer severely.explains Christina Sjostrand, one of the study’s authors. We assume that this affects their ability to function and it is important for the benefit of the individual and society that they are helped in the form of treatment (…), Monitoring and support“.