Perspectives on migraine: Prevalence and visual symptoms

Abstract

About 20 per cent of women and 10 per cent of men experience migraine at some time in their lives, of whom about one half to two thirds will have had a migraine attack in the previous 12 months. Prevalences of this order have been found in a survey of patients in an Australian optometric practice. Between one third and one half of migraineurs experience sensory or motor aura. Visual aura are by far the most common of the aura. A high proportion (more than 40 per cent) of migraineurs presenting for routine optometric examination will not have had their headache or aura formally diagnosed. Optometrists can give reassurance by providing a formal diagnosis and, when appropriate, they can refer t..