There are important distinctions between headache and migraine.
Headache disorders are amongst the top ten causes of disability in Europe.
Three of these (migraine, tension-type headache and medication-overuse headache) are important in primary care because they are common and responsible for almost all headache related burden.
A fourth headache disorder (cluster headache) is also important because it is severely painful, treatable but often misdiagnosed. (extract from WHO publication)
Migraine is a common disabling primary headache disorder. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Global Burden of Disease Survey 2010, migraine was ranked as the third most prevalent disorder and seventh-highest specific cause of disability worldwide. It’s high prevalence impacts significantly on the personal and socio-economic.