Revista de investigación del cerebro

The use of digital devices in the study increases the rates of migraine incidence among medical school students, king abdulaziz university, jeddah, saudi arabia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Omar Mansour Alhazmi

Migraine is the most popular neurological condition which affects virtually everybody during their lifetime minimally once. Globally, migraine has a high prevalence among medical college students. This research aimed to determine whether there is an association between learning from electronic devices and migraine prevalence between medical students at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 398 students (both sexes) in different academic years at the faculty of medicine, KAU, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The data were collected using a closed-ended questionnaire. The results revealed that more than half of the participants (52.5%) suffered from migraine in earlier periods of their lives. The key indicators of migraine were female (60.8%), school days (90.9%), positive family history (76.6%), adolescence (54.1%), an electronic source in studying (52.2%), and screen exposure for more than 4 hours daily (61.3%). Furthermore, there was a significant association between migraine and gender, family history, electronic source of study, duration of screen exposure, and adolescence. The findings of this research revealed that students of the medical school who suffer from migraine could be attributed to the usage of digital study methods such as a laptop, a computer, or a tablet in studying with screens exposure for long periods.