Post-traumatic headaches after mild head injury (ICHD-2 5.1.2

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate ICHD-2 diagnoses acute (5.1.2) and chronic (5.2.2) post-traumatic headache attributed to mild head injury, using data from two controlled cohort studies on headache after concussion from Lithuania, where there is little expectation of chronic symptoms or secondary gain. Methods 348 individuals with concussion and 367 matched non-head injured controls answered questionnaires about headache frequency, severity, character and accompanying symptoms in (1) a prospective cohort study shortly after the trauma, and after 3 months and 1 year; and (2) a historical cohort study after 2–3 years. Results Acute posttraumatic headache was reported by 88% but had disappeared in 92% of cases after 3 months. In concussion patients migraine and phonophobia were more prevalent after 3 months, and photophobia both after 3 and 12 months. No significant differences in headache type, frequency, severity or accompanying symptoms was found after 1 year or more, even when the two studies were combined to increase the power. In the prospective cohort study, no positive dose-response relationship between severity of concussion and severity of headache was found. [...].