Posted by Jack Boyd (33.2.105.9) on June 14, 1999 at 08:27:38:
I like to check out the survey results from time to time. Pretty interesting and I would humbly suggest that there is some news there and some of it is pretty subtle.
1) cluster headaches among immediate family members - 11%. I think this makes a case for some pretty strong genetic component. The incidence among the overall population is less than 1% - so 11% can be viewed as significant particularly when only the immediate family was considered - and we didn't include uncles, cousins, great grandfathers, etc.
2) smoking and drinking - I know this is a sore spot for some but I would maintain that the percentages for each are above the averages for the overrall population. I don't profess to know what the implications are but I do think it is pretty interesting that people with something as debilitating as clusters find the need to smoke and drink a little bit more than most.
3) The age of respondents is heavily clustered ( unforgiveable pun ) around people in their 30s and 40s. There could be all sorts of reasons for this -
a) it is part of normal demographics - baby boomers making up a larger % of population
b) people in their 50s and 60s are less likely to use the internet
c) there is some aspect of lifestyle that certain generations engage in that make them more susceptible to cluster ( now I am really stretching it ).
d) people do tend to outgrow clusters
I suppose that the age of respondents has a little bit to do with a), a little bit to do with b), nothing to do with c) and I hope that it has a lot to do with d).