The Association between Smartphone Addiction and Headache among Adults

Abstract

Background: Limited studies that adequately explain the cause-and-effect relationships have linked mobile phone use to various health consequences. Several studies have examined how exposure to mobile phones may affect various symptoms. To find out an association between smartphone addiction and headaches among adults. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, data was collected through a non-probability sampling technique from 400 adults of either gender aged between 18 to 35 years from Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Taxila. Data was collected via the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV), Headache Disability Index (HDI) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The data were analyzed using the SPSS version 23. Results: There were 400 participants, n=187(46.8%) male and n= 213(53.3%) female, with mean age (23.20±4.41) years. The descriptive statistics of the study population were Functional HDI (21.10±11.62), Emotional HDI (19.99±12.47), HDI-Sum (41.09±22.90) and SAS-Sum (33.48±11.35). The correlation of smartphone addiction with pain (r=0.258, p=0.000), Functional HDI (r=0.349, p=0.000), Emotional HDI (r=0.364, p=0.000), and HDI-Sum (r=0.375,p=0.000) respectively. Conclusion: Headache due to smartphone addiction affects adults because of unrestricted usage of smartphones. Keywords: Headache, Pain, Smart Phones, Young Adults.