Distribution of “Brazilian headache specialists” – Analyses of Brazilian Headache Society members

Abstract

Objective: Two important barriers that hinder the adequate care ofpatients with headache are the inadequate learning of the disorder inMedical Schools and the relative lack of headache specialists. Herewe report the results of a survey on the distribution of headachespecialists in Brazil. Methods: The inclusion of specialists was donethrough visual inspection of the 2004-2005 Directory of the BrazilianSociety of Headache. Inclusion was determined based on societyaffiliation. Non-physician members were excluded from the analysis.The specialists were distributed by absolute and relative numbers(professionals/regional population ratio) for each Brazilian state, andwere aggregated in geopolitical regions. Results: Two hundred andforty-three headache specialists are distributed over 22 states. Thestate with the highest absolute number of headache specialists is SaoPaulo (n = 86); however, when the HS/population ratio was analyzed,Rio de Janeiro has the highest figure – 0.003/1000 inhabitants.Conclusions: This study provides the distribution of headachespecialists, with the higher densities of physicians with special interestin headache concentrated in the south and southeast regions. An idealdensity of such professionals is yet to be determined. A special effortshould be made towards a better density and distribution of headachespecialists in Brazil. Public policies should be taken in order to reducethe burden of headaches in the general population.

Keywords

• Headache
• Specialties
• medical
• Population
• Brazil