Among pregnant women receiving inpatient neurologic consultation, more than one-third have secondary headache, according to a study of 140 pregnant women presenting with acute headache. Researchers found:
• The women had a mean age of 29 years and 56.4% presented in the third trimester.
• Diagnoses were 65.0% primary and 35% secondary disorders.
• Most common primary headache disorder was migraine (91.2%) and secondary headache disorders were hypertensive disorders (51.0%).
• Groups were similar in demographics, gestational ages, and most headache features.
• In univariate analysis, secondary headaches were associated with: lack of headache history, seizures, elevated blood pressure, fever, and an abnormal neurological exam.
• In multivariate logistic regression, elevated blood pressure and a lack of headache history had an increased association with secondary headache, while psychiatric comorbidity and phonophobia had a reduced association with secondary headache.
Citation: Robbins MS, Farmakidis C, Dayal AK, Lipton RB. Acute headache diagnosis in pregnant women: A hospital-based study. [Published online ahead of print August 19, 2015]. Neurology. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000001954.