Daily Times

Women are more likely to suffer from headaches and depression than men, a study has found.

A Europe-wide report analysing attitudes towards physical and mental health found that women were ‘much more likely’ to seek medical help for severe headaches than men.

It adds, “For severe headaches we see a strong gender gap, with women much more likely to report this, and percentages in Germany, France and Portugal reporting this condition are more than three times higher than in Ireland.”

In Britain, 15.8 percent of women described themselves as having chronic headaches compared to 8.2 percent of men.

But women in Portugal and France came off worse, it emerged, with 29.6 percent and 30.2 percent respectively reporting headaches.

Previous studies have found that women experience chronic pain, including headaches, for longer and more intensely than men.

American psychologist Dr Jennifer Kelly from the Atlanta Centre for Behavioural Medicine has claimed women were more than two and a half times more likely to be struck by a migraine than men.

Other studies have suggested that a migraine can be triggered by a drop in oestrogen levels which normally occur just before a period.

When asked about their general health, 14.7 percent of UK women admitted to having depressive symptoms compared to 10.6 percent of men.

But the Czech Republic came out highest with 28.6 percent of women reporting depressive symptoms and 19.1 percent of men.

The European Social Survey, which will be released today, analyses attitudes towards health across 21 countries.

Polling 40,000 people across Europe, it emerged that, across the continent, women report more signs of depression than men.

The ESS, which is supported by the UK Economic & Social Research Council, found that in Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, over a quarter of women said they experienced depressive symptoms.

When analysing attitudes towards alcohol, the UK had the second highest number of binge drinkers after Portugal. In Portugal, 17.5 percent of men admitted to binging on alcohol at least weekly while 5.2 percent of women said they did the same. In Britain, 11.2 percent of men reported binging at least weekly and 4 percent of women.