Headache prevalence in physiotherapy undergraduate students and its effects on biopsychosocial status

This study was planned to determine the prevalence of headache in physiotherapy undergraduate students and to examine the biopsychosocial impact of headache. A total of 257 undergraduate students [206 (80.2%) female, 51 (19.8%) male] from Hacettepe University, Faculty of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation participated in the study. The prevalence of headache was 73.9% (n=190) in all students. Quality of life, sleep quality, cervical range of motion, fatigue severity, physical activity level, body awareness level, self-compassion level, discomfort tolerance level, anxiety/depression levels of students with and without headache were evaluated by teleassessment method. In addition, pain characteristics, the level of negative impact on quality of life and the rate of migraine-related headache were evaluated in students with headache. As a result, it was found that the incidence of headache was quite high in the physiotherapy undergraduate student population, and the quality of life, sleep quality, self-compassion levels, and discomfort tolerance levels of students with headache were significantly lower than those of students without headache (p<0.05). The rate of migraine-related headache in students with headache was found to be 41.6%. It was concluded that students with headache were more affected biopsychosocially than those without headache, symptoms were related to each other, and headache and related symptoms should be approached with awareness and multidisciplinary approach for public health.