Abstract
The diagnoses of the 193 patients aged 65 and over who attended the service of neurology in the past 15 years with de novo headache as their initial and main symptom were specifically analysed. Headaches beginning in elderly people represented only 5.4% of headaches in all ages, whereas 12.1% of the population in this health area was 65 or over. Head pain appeared more often in women (63%), although post-traumatic, cluster, and benign cough headaches were almost restricted to men. Tension type headache (83 patients, 43% of the aged patients) and idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (36, 19%) were the most frequent diagnoses. Fifteen per cent of the elderly patients v 1.6% of patients under 65 presented headache secondary to serious conditions, such as stroke, temporal arteritis, or intracranial neoplasm. Only one patient over 65 met migraine criteria. It is concluded that whereas the incidence of patients with headache attending a general hospital decreases with age, the risk of headaches due to serious conditions increases 10-fold after 65.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Baumel B., Eisner L. S. Diagnosis and treatment of headache in the elderly. Med Clin North Am. 1991 May;75(3):661–675. doi: 10.1016/s0025-7125(16)30441-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cook N. R., Evans D. A., Funkenstein H. H., Scherr P. A., Ostfeld A. M., Taylor J. O., Hennekens C. H. Correlates of headache in a population-based cohort of elderly. Arch Neurol. 1989 Dec;46(12):1338–1344. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1989.00520480082024. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hale W. E., May F. E., Marks R. G., Moore M. T., Stewart R. B. Headache in the elderly: an evaluation of risk factors. Headache. 1987 May;27(5):272–276. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1987.hed2705272.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Langemark M., Olesen J., Poulsen D. L., Bech P. Clinical characterization of patients with chronic tension headache. Headache. 1988 Oct;28(9):590–596. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1988.hed2809590.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Levy L. M. An epidemiological study of headache in an urban population in Zimbabwe. Headache. 1983 Jan;23(1):2–9. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1983.hed2301002.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rasmussen B. K., Olesen J. Symptomatic and nonsymptomatic headaches in a general population. Neurology. 1992 Jun;42(6):1225–1231. doi: 10.1212/wnl.42.6.1225. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Serratrice G., Serbanesco F., Sambuc R. Epidemiology of headache in elderly--correlations with life conditions and socio-professional environment. Headache. 1985 Mar;25(2):85–89. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1985.hed2502085.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stang P. E., Yanagihara P. A., Swanson J. W., Beard C. M., O'Fallon W. M., Guess H. A., Melton L. J., 3rd Incidence of migraine headache: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota. Neurology. 1992 Sep;42(9):1657–1662. doi: 10.1212/wnl.42.9.1657. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Waters W. E. Community studies of the prevalence of headache. Headache. 1970 Jan;9(4):178–186. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1970.hed0904178.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Waters W. E. The pontypridd headache survey. Headache. 1974 Jul;14(2):81–90. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.1974.hed1402081.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ziegler D. K., Hassanein R. S., Couch J. R. Characteristics of life headache histories in a nonclinic population. Neurology. 1977 Mar;27(3):265–269. doi: 10.1212/wnl.27.3.265. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]