Secondary Headache Disorders: Approach, Workup, and Special Considerations for Select Populations.

Headache is one of the most common diagnoses in neurology. A thorough understanding of the clinical presentation of secondary headache, which can be life-threatening, is critical. This review provides an overview of the diagnostic approach to a patient with headache, including discussion of "red," "orange," and "green" flags. We emphasize particular scenarios to help tailor the clinical workup to individual circumstances such as in pregnant women, when particular attention must be paid to the effects of blood pressure and hypercoagulability, as well as in older adults, where there is a need for higher suspicion for an intracranial mass lesion or giant cell arteritis. Patients with risk factors for headache secondary to alterations in intracranial pressure, whether elevated (e.g., idiopathic intracranial hypertension) or decreased (e.g., cerebrospinal fluid leak), may require more specific diagnostic testing and treatment. Finally, headache in patients with COVID-19 or long COVID-19 is increasingly recognized and may have multiple etiologies.

OnabotulinumtoxinA Wear-off Phenomenon in the Treatment of Chronic Migraine.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency and features of onabotulinumtoxinA (onabotA) wear-off in chronic migraine (CM). BACKGROUND: Clinical experience suggests that patients with CM frequently perceive onabotA treatment duration <12 weeks, but this phenomenon has not been well explored. METHODS: This study was a retrospective chart review of patients (n = 143) with CM initiated on onabotA over a 2-year period. Wear-off was considered present with the phrase documented, a quantitative headache day increase, or increased use of abortive medications, bridging therapies or emergency department visits in the 6 weeks preceding the subsequent administration. RESULTS: Wear-off was present in 90/143 patients (62.9%). Age, sex, medication overuse, psychiatric comorbidity, injector training level, and mean days between injections did not differ between the wear-off and no wear-off groups. Mean units injected per session in the wear-off group until first documented wear-off were significantly less vs no wear-off group (166.0 ± 13.1 vs 173.4 ± 10.3, P = .0005). Wear-off most commonly occurred 2-4 weeks before the next injection (43.3%) and after the very first injection (40.0%). Intramuscular ketorolac injections (33.3%) and peripheral nerve blocks (25.6%) were the most common bridge therapies used in the wear-off period. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients with CM receiving onabotA experience wear-off. Clinicians may consider increasing the units used from the treatment onset to reduce the frequent need for bridging therapies.

Headache in Neuromyelitis Optica.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) classically features a clinical presentation that includes longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis and optic neuritis. However, many other pathognomonic phenomena have more recently been described in patients diagnosed with NMO, including intractable hiccups, vomiting, and painful tonic spasms, but less has been reported regarding the relationship between NMO and headache. Though headache is well established as both a symptom and comorbidity of multiple sclerosis (MS), it has been much less described thus far in the NMO literature and warrants more careful evaluation. Many questions remain unanswered about the relationship between NMO and headache, including headache prevalence in certain groups, distribution of primary and symptomatic headache disorders that are seen most frequently and the specific neuroimaging findings that are associated with an increased risk of headache. RECENT FINDINGS: Various types of headache, such as cervicogenic headache and trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia-like headache, have been reported as the initial clinical presentation of NMO. Other publications have emphasized the association of NMO and other etiologies of headache, such as trigeminal neuralgia, PRES, and preeclampsia. Certain MR imaging findings such as medullary lesions in patients with NMO have also been associated with headache. The link between headache and NMO is evident not only in limited case reports and clinical studies but also with both MR imaging and even with some potential common underlying biomarkers such as pentraxin-3 and interleukin-6. Developing a further understanding in the association between these two diseases may lead to better management of headache in patients with NMO and potentially lead to earlier diagnosis of NMO in whom headache may serve as an initial presenting symptom and may even herald a disease exacerbation.

Measurement of resident fatigue using rapid number naming.

OBJECTIVE: Sleep deprivation has a negative effect on neurocognitive performance. The King-Devick test (KDT), which tests speed and accuracy of number-reading, requires integrity of saccades, visual processing, and cognition. This study investigated effects of sleep deprivation in on-call residents using KDT. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted among 80 residents. KDT was performed at the beginning and end of an overnight call shift for the residents in the experimental group. A control group was tested at the beginning of 2 consecutive day shifts. Estimates of hours of sleep, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS)(1 = extremely alert, 9 = extremely sleepy), and time and accuracy of KDT were recorded. RESULTS: 42 residents were tested before and after overnight call shifts and 38 served as controls. Change in test time differed between the groups, with the experimental group performing 0.54(SD = 4.0) seconds slower after their night on call and the control group performing 2.32(SD = 3.0) seconds faster on the second day, p < 0.001. This difference was larger in surgical compared to medical residents. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep deprivation was inversely correlated with neurocognitive performance as measured by KDT, with more effect on surgical than medical residents. Further research could investigate whether this test could help determine fatigue level and ability to continue working after a long shift.

Racial Disparity in Stroke Awareness in the US: An Analysis of the 2014 National Health Interview Survey.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Stroke is a leading cause of premature death and disability, and increasing the proportion of individuals who are aware of stroke symptoms is a target objective of the Healthy people 2020 project. METHODS: We used data from the 2014 Supplement of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to assess the prevalence of stroke symptom knowledge and awareness. We also tested, using a logistic regression model, the hypothesis that individuals who have knowledge of all 5 stroke symptoms will be have a greater likelihood to activate Emergency Medical Services (EMS) if a stroke is suspected. RESULTS: From the 36,697 participants completing the survey 51% were female. In the entire sample, the age-adjusted awareness rate of stroke symptoms/calling 911 was 66.1%. Knowledge of the 5 stroke symptoms plus importance of calling 911 when a stroke is suspected was higher for females, Whites, and individuals with health insurance. Stroke awareness was lowest for Hispanics, Blacks, and survey participants from Western US region. CONCLUSION: The findings allude to continuing differences in the knowledge of stroke symptoms across race/ethnic and other demographic groups. Further research will confirm the importance of increased health literacy for Stroke management and prevention in minority communities.