Headache associated with acute ischemic stroke

Headache occurs frequently in acute ischemic stroke, but its frequency varies widely among different studies. We have prospectively studied headache features in patients with first-ever ischemic acute stroke and assessed the relationship between headache, stroke location, and etiology. The study included consecutive patients admitted to our Stroke Unit for a first-ever ischemic acute stroke. The study included 154 consecutive patients with ischemic stroke, and 54 of these (35.1%) had headache during stroke onset. Twelve patients (22.2%) with headache during stroke had history of headache; no patients without headache had history of headache. Headache was present in 25.8% (32/124) of the patients with anterior circulation stroke and in 73.3% (22/30) of the patients with posterior circulation stroke (p=0.001). Large artery disease was more frequent with than without headache (40.7% versus 14.0%, p=0.04). Headache was present in more than one-third of the patients with ischemic stroke. All patients with positive history for headache had headache during stroke onset. The cephalic pain was much more common among patients with infarcts in the posterior circulation than in patients in whom the anterior circulation was involved. Headache was more common when the cause of stroke was large artery disease.