Headache Disparities in African-Americans in the United States: A Narrative Review

Objective: The goal of this paper is to give a narrative review of the racial/ethnic disparities in African-Americans (AA) found in headache medicine and provide plausible responses to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) issued Request for information (RFI); "Soliciting Input on Areas of Health Disparities and Inequities in Neurological Disease and/or Care in the United States (US)" as it relates to AA and headache medicine.

Background: On March 31, 2020 the NINDS issued a RFI "Soliciting Input on Areas of Health Disparities and Inequities in Neurological Disease and/or Care in the US Across the Lifespan", RFI-NOT-NS-20-026, with response date ending June 15, 2020.¹ However as of June 13, 2020, a PubMed search with key terms "African American Headache disparities" yielded few results.

Methods: Multi-database search and literature review.

Results/discussion: As of June 13, 2020, a PubMed search with key terms "African American (or Black) Headache disparities" yielded 13 results. Searches of "Migraine Disparities Race" and "Migraine disparities African American" both yielded three results with one non-specific for migraine. In, "Headache disparities race" yielded one result in the PsycINFO database and 23 results in Web of Science database. Key areas of adult headache disparity and/or inequity were health care services for migraine treatment are less utilized, follow-up appointments are terminated more regularly, inaccurate diagnoses are more common, acute migraine attack medications are prescribed less frequently, mistrust and lower quality communication with physicians is reported, mistrust, increased migraine burden, frequency, and severity and risk for progression more associated depression and lower quality of life in AAs compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Literature on race-based disparities is even more scarce in pediatric populations, however it has been shown that white children are significantly more likely to receive neuroimaging than others which may indicate biases in pediatric populations. Potential determinants of these race-based disparities, research strategies and approaches vary and are discussed.

Conclusions: Race-based disparities exist in headache medicine in the US. Research is needed. Research strategies and approaches currently with limited use in neurology and headache medicine may be warranted and appropriate to address race-based headache disparities. Funding is paramount.