Tension Type Headache and Percieved Stress Level: A Correlational Study

Background: Tension-type headaches (TTH), together with migraines, are the most common primary headaches, affecting 80% of the general population. Stress is known to be a contributing factor to chronic tension-type headache (CTH), with research indicating that mental stress is the most commonly reported trigger and aggravating factor of a CTH episode. The study was conducted to find out the correlation between TTH and Perceived stress level among male and female students of Rewari district in Haryana. Methods: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) rating and an IHS TTH Diagnostic questionnaire were used in this study. A sample of 150 students including 75 males and 75 females in the age group of 18-25 years complaining of frequent headache were taken from different colleges and universities located in Rewari district of Haryana. In the second phase, only the diagnosed cases of tension type headache participated in the study and fill the perceived stress scale questionnaire. After data collection, analysis of data using SPSS software was done which then further help in testing the hypothesis and extracting the result and inferences. Descriptive analysis of quantitative data expressed as mean and standard deviation. Mean and Chi square test were used for comparison of individual onquantitative parameters between groups. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of subjects with TTH was 22.79 ±2.14. Value of PSS * TTH * Gender Pearson chi square is 21.77 at a significance value of .000 and is considered as significant differences exists in the relationship of PSS * TTH * Gender. Significant correlation exists in TTH and perceived stress among males and females of 18-25 years. Conclusion: Significant correlation exists between tension type headache and perceived stress. Subjects with very high stress score are more likely to report chronic tension type headache.