Have a headache and don’t know why? It could be high levels of air pollution. A study was done in the densely populated Santiago Province of Chile — a region surrounded by the Coastal and Andes mountains and, therefore, geographically prone to air pollution – In the study, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the research team assessed air pollution levels taken at different monitoring stations between 2001 and 2005. The stations measured for ozone and air pollutants such as nitrogen and sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and tiny, floating particles known as particulate matter associated with the combustion of gasoline, natural gas, and other fossil fuels. They then checked with hospitals’ admissions and found a direct correlation with migraine headaches, as well as tension, cluster, or other types of headache. When the investigators pooled the air pollution data from all regions they found, air pollution was a risk factor for all types of headache. This remained true in all pollutant-headache combinations analyzed.

These associations did not significantly change in analyses that accounted for the influence of age, gender, or season, Cakmak noted.

Based on their findings, Cakmak and colleagues say the estimates of the burden of illness and costs associated with poor air quality should include illness associated with headache.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, October 15, 2009

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE59J57720091020