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Review
. 2018 Oct;18(5):422-427.
doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-5-422.

Assessment of acute headache in adults - what the general physician needs to know

Krishna Chinthapalli  1 , Anne-Marie Logan  1 , Rohit Raj  2 , Niranjanan Nirmalananthan  3
Affiliations
Review

Assessment of acute headache in adults - what the general physician needs to know

Krishna Chinthapalli et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2018 Oct.

Abstract

Headache is common. Up to 5% of attendances to emergency departments and acute medical units are due to headache. Headache is classified as either primary (eg migraine, cluster headache) or secondary to another cause (eg meningitis, subarachnoid haemorrhage). Even in the acute setting the majority of cases are due to primary causes. The role of the attending physician is to take a comprehensive history to diagnose and treat benign headache syndromes while ruling out sinister aetiologies. This brief article summarises the approach to assessment of headache presenting in acute and emergency care.

Keywords: cluster headache; emergency; headache; meningitis; migraine; subarachnoid haemorrhage.

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Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
Some of the important secondary causes of acute headache.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Subarachnoid haemorrhage.
    Shipman KE, Ramalingam SK, Dawson CH, Yasear ZA. Shipman KE, et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2019 Jan;19(1):88-89. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-1-88a. Clin Med (Lond). 2019. PMID: 30651258 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
  • Response.
    Chinthapalli K, Nirmalananthan N. Chinthapalli K, et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2019 Jan;19(1):89. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-1-89. Clin Med (Lond). 2019. PMID: 30651259 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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