Is headache during pregnancy a higher risk for serious secondary headache cause? A HEAD study report

Objectives Pregnancy is defined as a 'red flag' in headache assessment. We aimed to describe the prevalence and causes of serious secondary headache in pregnant ED patients. Methods Unplanned secondary analysis of HEAD Study/HEAD Colombia data. Results 3.2% (117/3643) of ED headache patients aged 18-50 years were pregnant, of whom six (5.1%) had a serious secondary cause identified. The proportion of patients with serious headache causes was not significantly different between pregnant female, non-pregnant female and male patient subgroups (P = 0.89). Conclusion Inclusion of pregnancy as a 'red flag' in ED headache assessment is not supported by these data.

Automated summary

This study investigated the prevalence and causes of serious secondary headaches in pregnant emergency department patients. The study found that the proportion of patients with serious headache causes was not significantly different between pregnant female, non-pregnant female, and male patient subgroups. Therefore, the inclusion of pregnancy as a 'red flag' in emergency department headache assessment is not supported by these data.