Characterization of headache after traumatic brain injury

Background: Headache is a common and persistent symptom following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Headaches following TBI are defined primarily by their temporal association to injury, but have no defining clinical features. To provide a framework for treatment, primary headache symptoms were used to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cephalalgia 2012-06, Vol.32 (8), p.600-606
Main Authors: Lucas, Sylvia, Hoffman, Jeanne M, Bell, Kathleen R, Walker, William, Dikmen, Sureyya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Brain Injuries - diagnosis
Brain Injuries - epidemiology
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Headache - classification
Headache - diagnosis
Headache - epidemiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Migraine Disorders - classification
Migraine Disorders - diagnosis
Migraine Disorders - epidemiology
Prospective Studies
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: Headache is a common and persistent symptom following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Headaches following TBI are defined primarily by their temporal association to injury, but have no defining clinical features. To provide a framework for treatment, primary headache symptoms were used to characterize headache. Methods: Three hundred and seventy-eight participants were prospectively enrolled during acute in-patient rehabilitation for TBI. Headaches were classified into migraine/probable migraine, tension-type, or cervicogenic headache at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months following TBI. Results: Migraine was the most frequent headache type occurring in up to 38% of participants who reported headaches. Probable migraine occurred in up to 25%, tension-type headache in up to 21%, then cervicogenic headache in up to 10%. Females were more likely to have endorsed pre-injury migraine than males, and had migraine or probable migraine at all time points after injury. Those classified with migraine were more likely to have frequent headaches. Conclusions: Our data show that most headache after TBI may be classified using primary headache criteria. Migraine/probable migraine described the majority of headache after TBI across one year post-injury. Using symptom-based criteria for headache following TBI can serve as a framework from which to provide evidence-based treatment for these frequent, severe, and persistent headaches.
ISSN:0333-1024
1468-2982
DOI:10.1177/0333102412445224