QuickStats: Percentage* of Adults Who Had a Severe Headache or Migraine in the Past 3 Months, by Sex and Age Group — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2018,§

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The figure is a bar chart showing the percentage of adults who had a severe headache or migraine in the past 3 months in the United States in 2018, by sex and age group, based on data from the National Health Interview Survey. In 2018, women were nearly twice as likely as men to have had a severe headache or migraine in the past 3 months. The percentage of persons experiencing severe headache or migraine declined with age for both men and women.

* With 95% confidence intervals indicated by error bars.

Based on a question in the Sample Adult Interview that asks “During the past 3 months, did you have…[a] severe headache or migraine?”

§ Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population.

In 2018, women were nearly twice as likely as men to have had a severe headache or migraine in the past 3 months (20.1% versus 10.6%), both overall and within each age group. The percentage of persons experiencing severe headache or migraine declined with age for both men and women, from 25.5% among those aged 18–44 years to 7.6% among those aged ≥75 years for women and from 12.3% among those aged 18–44 years to 4.0% among those aged ≥75 years for men.

Source: National Health Interview Survey, 2018 data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.

Reported by: Sarah E. Lessem, PhD, slessem@cdc.gov, 301-458-4209; Jacqueline Lucas, MPH.


Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Who Had a Severe Headache or Migraine in the Past 3 Months, by Sex and Age Group — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:359. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6912a8.

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