• Lakshmanan Gopichandran, Kanniammal C, Valli G, Jaideep M, Achal Srivastava, P Vanamail, and Manju Dhandapani.
• College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. Electronic address: pravigopi@gmail.com.
• Pain Manag Nurs. 2020 Oct 1; 21 (5): 441-448.

BackgroundChronic tension type headache (CTTH) is one of the common cause of hospital visits among adolescents and adults. Chronic tension type headache produces pain, sleep disturbances, and disability among patients leading to a poor quality of life. Knowledge pattern of headache and various associated factors will aid appropriate management.AimsTo identify the headache dimensions and their various influencing factors among patients of chronic tension-type headache.MethodsUsing consecutive sampling techniques, 169 patients with chronic tension-type headache were recruited in this cross-sectional survey. Approval was obtained from the Institute's Ethics Committee. The Wong-Baker Foundation Pain intensity scale was used to assess the pain severity.ResultsA pain severity score of 6 out of 10 was reported by 56% of the patients, and the mean pain score reported by the patients was 6.62 ± 1.16. The mean weekly headache frequency was 4.95 ± 0.38, and the mean daily headache duration was 8.68 ± 1.68 hours. Significantly more patients who are married, patients who had a duration of illness less than two years, and patients who were treated with only analgesics reported higher headache severity. Higher headache frequency was reported by significantly more patients who were male, married, from a nuclear family, educated, unskilled laborers or employed, urban inhabitants, or only on analgesics, or had illness duration less than two years. Headache duration was significantly higher in patients who were unskilled laborers or only on analgesics, or had illness duration less than two years.ConclusionsPatients with chronic tension-type headache experience moderate to high severity of headache, along with substantial duration and frequency, an outcome that was associated with various lifestyle-related factors that can result in stress. Lifestyle modification and nonpharmacological management are thus essential to reduce the severity, frequency, and duration of headache in patients with a chronic tension-type headache and medication overuse.Copyright © 2020 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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