Effect of episodic tension-type headache on the health-related quality of life in employees of a Brazilian public hospital

Objective: To evaluate the impact of ETTH on HRQoL in a sample of employees of a Brazilian public hospital. Method. Three hundred and sixty Mario Gatti Hospital employees were asked about headache occurrence in the previous 6 months and completed a SF-36 and a pain questionnaires concerning impact of pain (0 to 10 scale) on daily activities, work efficiency, leisure and social activities in previous six months. Two groups were studied: 1. Episodic Tension-type headache group: 127 employees - 81 (63.8%) female and 46 (36.2%), male. 2. Control group: 124, 71 (57.3%) female and 53 (42.7%) male. Results: ETTH had lowers scores than control in all domains of SF-36; in vitality and bodily pain the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results indicate that ETTH suffers have impact on HRQoL predominantly in vitality. Psychological factors associated to pain may explain this finding.