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. 2020 Nov;40(13):1422-1431.
doi: 10.1177/0333102420965140.

Characteristics of headache attributed to COVID-19 infection and predictors of its frequency and intensity: A cross sectional study

Rehab Magdy  1 , Mona Hussein  2 , Christine Ragaie  1 , Hoda M Abdel-Hamid  1 , Ahmed Khallaf  2 , Hoda I Rizk  3 , Ahmed Dahshan  1
Affiliations

Characteristics of headache attributed to COVID-19 infection and predictors of its frequency and intensity: A cross sectional study

Rehab Magdy et al. Cephalalgia. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To study the characteristics of headache attributed to COVID-19 infection and predictors of its severity.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involved 172 individuals who had headache due to COVID-19 infection. A detailed analysis of such headache was done through a face-to-face interview. Patients with any other form of secondary headache were excluded. Labs, including lymphocytic count, C-reactive protein, D-dimer and ferritin and chest imaging, were made available.

Results: the: majority of our patients had a diffuse headache (52.9%). It was pressing in 40.7%, with median intensity of 7 (assessed by visual analogue scale) and median frequency of 7 days/week. Patients with preexisting primary headache (52.9%) had significantly more frequent COVID-19 related headache than those without (47.1%) (p = 0.001). Dehydrated patients (64.5%) had more frequent COVID-19 related headache than those who were not dehydrated (35.5%) (p = 0.029). Patients with fever (69.8%) had significantly higher frequency and intensity of COVID-19 related headache compared to those without fever (30.2%) (p = 0.003, 0.012). Patients with comorbidities (19.8%) had significantly higher frequency and intensity of headache than those without comorbidities (80.2%) (p = 0.006, 0.003). After multiple linear regression, primary headache disorders, dehydration and comorbidities were considered predictors of frequency of COVID-19 related headache. Meanwhile, fever and dehydration were predictors of pain intensity.

Conclusion: Healthcare providers of COVID-19 patients need to be aware of frequency and intensity predictors of COVID-19 related headache: Primary headache disorders, fever, dehydration, and comorbidities.

Keywords: COVID-19 related headache; VAS; dehydration; fever; primary headache disorders.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram for the eligible and excluded patients.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Comparison between patients with migraine, tension type headache and patients without primary headache, regarding characteristics of COVID-19 related headache.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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