Cough headache secondary to spontaneous intracranial hypotension complicated by cerebral venous thrombosis.

Cough headache may be the clinical manifestation, sometimes isolated, of an intracranial disease. There are several possible causes of secondary cough headache. The hypothesis that cough headache may be the expression of spontaneous intracranial hypotension has been advanced only recently. In fact, this would represent an exception to the rule that cough headache is generally secondary to conditions leading to an increase in intracranial pressure and/or volume. We report and discuss a case of cough headache secondary to spontaneous intracranial hypotension in an otherwise healthy 59-year-old man. The condition was complicated by cerebral venous thrombosis.

Population-based pace study: lifetime and past-year prevalence of headache in adults.

Primary headache prevalence in the adult Italian general population has been little studied so far. This is an observational, cross-sectional, population-based study conducted in a subject sample that was representative of the city of Parma's general population >or=age 18. The lifetime prevalence of headache was 69.1%, i.e. 75.8% in women and 60.6% in men; the past-year prevalence of headache was 42.8%, i.e. 52.0% in women and 31.1% in men. Most people suffer from one headache subtype. Headache past-year prevalence decreases with age, both in men and in women. After 60, the likelihood of suffering from headache is low. In more than 80% of cases, headache starts before age 40 and, therefore, it is not very likely for people to develop headache at an advanced age (>50 years). This is the first population-based study conducted in Italy on a sample aged >or=18 since the publication of the IHS diagnostic criteria in 1988.

Population-based pace study: headache frequency and disease perception in adult subjects with headache.

Headache is a disorder that has a very negative personal and social impact. This is an observational, cross-sectional, population-based study conducted in a subject sample (n = 904) that was representative of the town of Parma's general population aged 18 and over. The aim of this study, which is a part of a larger project, was to assess the frequency of headache and the disease perception of subjects with headache during the past year (n = 387). The average number of headache days in the past year was 34.9 days and it was comparable in men and in women: 49.9% of subjects had 1-12 days of headache in the past year, 34.9% had 1-52 days, 11.9% had 53-180 days, and 3.4% had more than 180 days. Only three subjects had headache every day during the past year. Only one-third of the subjects with headache in the past year considered themselves headache sufferers. The analysis by gender showed differences between men and women: although the average number of headache days in the past year was comparable in the male and female populations, women considered their headache a disease more often than men did. In addition, the percentage of men who considered their headache a disease did not increase with the increase in the number of headache days in the past year. More in-depth studies on this important aspect are needed.