Headache nature predicts ischemic stroke

Scientists from the Ural State Medical University, the Ural Federal University and the University of Copenhagen have developed new criteria for diagnosing headaches caused by ischemic stroke

Ischemic stroke (or cerebral infarction) is due to cerebrovascular, cardiac or blood disease, which occurs due to impaired cerebral circulation, brain tissue damage due to infarct formation, and is one of the most common causes of disability and death in humans

The problem is that the diagnosis of ischemic stroke-related headache is largely based on expert judgment, based on small samples of patients, rather than clinical evidence published from extensive observational studies

To identify clear, clinically valid symptoms of specific headaches associated with ischemic stroke, the researchers looked at two groups of patients - those with a first-time stroke and those without any acute neurological or serious illness (stroke, brain tumor and trauma, epilepsy, dementia, and other serious neurological and medical disorders)

The researchers classified the different types of headaches experienced by the two groups in the year before admission, the week before the stroke, and the day of the stroke

New types of headaches and headaches with altered characteristics were predominant in stroke patients: about 15% of such patients experienced headaches in the last week before stroke, and another 15% experienced headaches at the onset of stroke

"Patients in the control group were mostly hospitalized for pain syndromes, most commonly acute pain due to low back pain or pancreatitis

The findings showed that about 55% of the first group of test-takers experienced a new type of headache, and another 35% experienced a common headache with a noticeable change

These findings make it possible to first verify the accuracy of the existing diagnostic criteria for stroke-related headache proposed in the International Headache Classification

"The results show that only 60% of headaches that occur at the time of stroke meet these diagnostic criteria

Second, Elena Lebedeva and co-author Jes Olesen, professor at Copenhagen University and founder of the International Classification of Headaches, present existing criteria for stroke-related headaches Updated and new standards developed

"We have managed to create new, clear criteria with which to judge an impending or already occurring stroke from the characteristics of a headache

article title

Diagnostic criteria for acute headache attributed to ischemic stroke and for sentinel headache before ischemic stroke