Author(s)

Ibrahima Aïssata Camara^1*, Maёl Ndao Eteno¹, Annick Nsounda Mandzela¹, Nelly Diouf Mbourou¹, Grass Aurelle Mambila Matsalou¹, Jennifer Nyangui Mapaga¹, Pupchen Marilyse Gnigone¹, Landry Oura², Mounguengui Martine Moubecka¹, Philomène Kouna¹

¹Neurology of the CHUL, Libreville, Gabon.
²Neurology of HIAOBO, Libreville, Gabon.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of headaches among Libreville teachers. Introduction: Headaches, commonly referred to as “headaches”, correspond to all the unpleasant sensations felt in the head. It is generally a question of subjective manifestations that only the patient can express. The most common functional sign is pain, which in itself is difficult to measure. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional prospective study with analytical and descriptive aims, which took place over a period of 4 months from February 1st to June 1st, 2016. It took place in five public secondary schools in two of the six districts of Libreville. Was considered cephalalgic (or suffering from headache), any teacher who answered “Yes” to the question: “Are you prone to headaches?” The choice of the reference interval to be able to evaluate the working time of the recruited teachers was inspired by the European standards which globally place the average weekly working time of teachers between 30 and 40 hours. The collected data were processed and analyzed with Epi-info 7 and SPSS 22 software. A regression analysis was performed to identify the associated factors. Results: We collected 236 teachers whose average age was 43.2 ± 7.9 years, with extremes of 27 and 60 years. There were 141 men (59.7%) and 95 women (40.3%) with a sex ratio of 0.96. The prevalence of headache was 76.7%. The factors associated with headaches were the subject taught, the number of students, and the provision of private tutoring. Five main triggers were found: overwork (86.2%), lack of sleep (84.5%), sun (73.5%), noise (68%) and fatigue (64.6%). The effects of headache were discomfort in daily activities (65.7%), absenteeism (35.9%) and a reduction in sleep time. Conclusion: Our study shows that headaches particularly affect the teaching profession with female predominance due to stressful situations caused by their work environment.

Headache, Teachers, Libreville

Camara, I. , Eteno, M. , Mandzela, A. , Mbourou, N. , Matsalou, G. , Mapaga, J. , Gnigone, P. , Oura, L. , Moubecka, M. and Kouna, P. (2019) Prevalence and Associated Factors of Cephales in a Professional Environment—Case of Teachers of Libreville. Open Access Library Journal, 6, 1-11. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1105168.