Background. Although persistent headaches are a common post-stroke pain syndrome, the epidemiology and clinical features of persistent headache after first-ever ischemic stroke have not been considered previously. There is no exact data on how often headache attributed to stroke persists for more than 3 months, i.e. meets the criteria for persistent headache after stroke and what are their distinctive clinical features. The tasks of our study were: to analyze the occurrence/incidence of persistent headaches after the first-ever ischemic stroke; to determine clinical characteristics and types of persistent headaches in comparison with headaches at the onset of stroke. Materials and methods. The study included 550 patients (mean age 63.1 years, 54% men) with first-ever ischemic stroke, of which 529 patients were followed up for at least three months after the stroke. Standardized semi-structured interview forms were used to assess these headaches during professional face-to-face interviews at the onset of stroke and ≥3 months after the stroke using telephone interview by neurologist. Results. Among 529 follow up patients 55 (10.4%) had persistent headaches after first-ever ischemic stroke. Among these 55 patients 34 patients had persistent new-type headaches which arose for the first time during the onset of stroke, they included predominated migraine-like headaches (n=20), tension-type-like headaches (n=9) and thunderclap-like headaches (n=5). 21 patients had persistent headaches with altered characteristics: predominated tension-type-like headaches (n=16), and less common migraine-like headaches (n=5). Persistent headaches after stroke had the following characteristics compared to headaches at onset of stroke: severe headache intensity, a gradual decrease of occurrence of accompanying symptoms (photo- and phonophobia; p=0.03), the transition of unilateral headaches in bilateral (p=0.004), the presence of headaches ≥15 days per month in 30.9% of the patients. Conclusion. Persistent post-stroke headaches represent a persistent pain syndrome with severe intensity and frequency of attacks, which requires their further study and creation of guidelines for their management.
Translated title of the contributionCLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSISTENT HEADACHES AFTER THE FIRST-EVER ISCHEMIC STROKE (FOLLOW-UP OF 529 PATIENTS)
Original languageRussian
Pages (from-to)823-827
Number of pages5
JournalConsilium Medicum
Volume24
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Level of Research Output

  • VAK List
  • Russian Science Citation Index

    GRNTI

  • 76.00.00 MEDICINE AND HEALTH CARE

ID: 33259844