Posted by Bob P (129.65.106.147) on October 29, 1999 at 13:26:50:
Here's a little tidbit I found discussing the ratio of male/female CHers, workers and smokers.
Cephalalgia 1998 Apr;18(3):138-42
Gender ratio of cluster headache over the years: a possible role of changes
in lifestyle.
Manzoni GC
Headache Centre, Institute of Neurology, University of Parma, Italy.
Changes in the male-to-female (M/F) ratio of cluster headache (CH) over the
years were investigated through a comparative analysis of the distribution
of the disease by sex and decade of onset in 482 patients (374M and 108F).
Variations over the last few decades were also investigated in the
employment rate, level of school education, smoking habit, and coffee and
alcohol intake of the population living in the same area as the CH
patients. The M/F ratio has fallen from 6.2:1 for patients with CH onset
before 1960, to 5.6:1, 4.3:1, 3.0:1, and 2.1:1 for patients with CH onset
in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, respectively. Correspondingly, in
those same decades, the M/F ratio has fallen from 2.6:1 to 2.4:1, 2.2:1,
and 1.7:1, respectively, for the employment rate, and from 8.6:1 to 7.8:1,
3.3:1, 2.5:1, and 1.9:1 for the smoking habit. Such a close correlation
suggests that the significant changes that have occurred over the last few
decades in the lifestyle of both sexes--and particularly that of women--may
have played a major role in altering the gender ratio of CH.