Objective:

to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of pregnant and postpartum patients with headache treated in a highly complex institution.

Methods:

retrospective descriptive study that included pregnant women and postpartum women who presented headache during 2014-2016 attended by the neurology service of a referral center. The information was obtained from the review of clinical histories; Headache classification was carried out based on the criteria proposed by the IHS (International Headache Society) in its third edition.

Results:

the clinical histories of 1253 patients were reviewed, of which 95 met the eligibility criteria of the study. Of these, 74 (77.9%) were pregnant and 21 (22.1%) were in the postpartum period. Most of the pregnant women, 41 (55.4%) were in the third trimester. Headache was classified as primary in 69 (72.6%) patients, migraine being more frequent in 60/69 (87%). The most frequent symptoms were nausea in 66 (69.5%), photophobia in 64 (67.4%), and phonophobia in 58 (61.1%) patients. Complications were found in 19 patients (20%) during hospitalization; of these, the most common was migraine status, in 12 (63.2%) patients.

Conclusions:

the most common type of headache was migraine, although it is benign, generates a lot of morbidity. It is vitally important to determine the presence of headache red flags to rule out an underlying pathology that can put the life of the mother and the baby at risk.

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