An estimated 1.5 million people in Taiwan, or about 15 percent of the population, suffer from migraines, according to the results of a two-year epidemiological study conducted by Taipei Veterans General Hospital and the National Yangming University.
The research found that nearly 80 percent of patients took pain-killers for temporary relief.
Forty-five percent of patients bought over-the-counter painkillers at drug stores and only 33 percent chose to see doctors. Some 2.5 percent took painkillers every day and up to 31 percent of patients were taking excessive quantities of painkillers.
"The temporary relief provided by over-the-counter drugs doesn't affect the headache and some might even lead to addiction," said Wang Shuu-jiun (
Most painkillers or liquid cold medicines sold in drugstores contain not only ingredients to relieve pain but also caffeine and PPA (phenylpropanolamine).
PPA was withdrawn from use by the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this month because of the risk of its leading to hemorrhagic stroke.
The Department of Health also appealed to the public not to use drugs containing PPA for the time being after the US announcement.
The research was carried out from 1997 to 1999 and targeted 3,377 people in the Taipei area. 14.2 percent of females and 4.6 percent of males were diagnosed as migraine patients and researchers have estimated that 1.5 million people in Taiwan are suffering from the illness.
Wu Zin-an (
Five percent of people who visited doctors in the Taipei area did so for a headache, according to the research. One out of 20 clinic visits subsidized by the National Health Insurance scheme were related to headaches.
The hospital held a press conference yesterday in order to raise public awareness of migraines and appeal to patients to consult physicians instead of buying over-the-counter drugs.
"The key to dealing with chronic headaches is to abstain from painkillers," Wang said.
The hospital has adopted intravenous injections of medicine to help patients who suffer from daily headaches and have become addicted to painkillers. This therapy has proven effective.
Wang said only 4 percent of the whole population had never suffered from any sort of headache in their lives.
Therefore, "If we can constrain migraine patients' headaches to the pain level and frequency of normal people, we can say the therapy works," Wang said.
Migraines are a hereditary illness, according to physicians.
Females are more susceptible to migraines than males. Stress and some foods -- such as chocolate, cheese, squid and red wine -- are thought to be probable causes.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary