Cluster Headache in Women
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2006 Jan 11
Cluster headache in women - relation with menstruation, use of oral
contraceptives, pregnancy and menopause.
van Vliet JA, Favier I, Helmerhorst FM, Haan J, Ferrari MD.
Medical Centre Haaglanden, Netherlands.
Abstract In contrast to migraine, little is known about the relationship between
cluster headache and menstrual cycle, oral contraceptives, pregnancy and
menopause. We performed a population-based questionnaire study among 224 female
cluster headache patients, and studied the possible effect of hormonal
influences on cluster headache attacks. For control data, a similar but adjusted
questionnaire was sent to healthy volunteers and migraine patients. We found
that menstruation, use of oral contraceptives, pregnancy and menopause had a
much smaller influence on cluster headache attacks than in migraine. Cluster
headache can, however, have a large impact on individual women, for example to
refrain from having children.
PMID: 16407458
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J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2001 May;70(5):613-7.
Cluster headache in women: clinical characteristics and comparison with cluster headache in men.
Read entire Article at: http://jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/70/5/613
Rozen TD, Niknam RM, Shechter AL, Young WB, Silberstein SD.
Department of Neurology, Jefferson Headache Center, Thomas University Hospital, Gibbon Building, Suite 8130, 111 South 11th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA. todd.rozen@mail.tju.edu
OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical characteristics of cluster headache in women. Cluster headache is a disorder of men (male to female ratio 6-7:1). METHODS: Retrospective chart review to identify all women diagnosed with cluster headache at an academic headache centre from January 1995 through July 1998. RESULTS: Thirty two women and 69 men were identified. The mean age of onset of cluster headache was 29.4 years in women versus 31.3 years in men. Two peaks of onset in women (2nd and 5th decade) were identified compared with one in men (3rd decade). Episodic cluster headache was present in 75% of women and 77% of men. Women and men had on average 3 attacks a day, but attack duration was shorter in women (67.2 minutes v 88.2 minutes). Cluster headache period duration (11.1 weeks v 10 weeks) and remission periods (21.1 months v 23.1 months) were similar in women and men. Miosis and ptosis seemed to be less common in women (miosis 13.3% v 24.6%, ptosis 41.9% v 58.1%) whereas lacrimation and nasal congestion/rhinorrhoea were almost equally prevalent in women and men. Women had more nausea than men (62.5% v 43.5%, p=0.09) and significantly more vomiting (46.9% v 17.4%, p=0.003). Photophobia occurred in 75% of women and 81.2% of men, and phonophobia occurred in 50% of women and 47.8% of men. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical characteristics of cluster headache in women are very similar to those in men. Women develop the disorder at an earlier age of onset and experience more "migrainous symptoms" with cluster headache, especially vomiting. Both men and women have frequent photophobia and phonophobia with cluster headache attacks. These symptoms are not included in the International Headache Society cluster headache criteria, suggesting the need for possible criteria revision.
PMID: 11309454
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Cephalalgia. 2001 Apr;21(3):198-200.
New-onset cluster headache in middle-age and elderly women
A Mosek, R Hering-Hanit and A Kuritzky
Cluster headache is usually considered to affect young men. We hereby report on new-onset cluster headache in middle-aged and elderly women. We performed a retrospective chart review of female patients diagnosed with cluster headache (IHS criteria), and studied the charts of women in whom the headache started after the age of 50 years. Out of 168 patients (26 women, 15%) diagnosed with cluster headache, the headache started after the age of 50 years in seven women, of whom three reported past tension-type or migraine headaches. The mean age at the beginning of the headache was 61 ± 8 years (range 52–72 years). In all cases, the pain was severe, strictly unilateral, and accompanied by at least one autonomic symptom. The average duration of the pain was 70 min (range 20 min - 3 hr), recurring daily for an average period of 7 weeks (range 1–16 weeks). Five patients had 1–2 pain attacks each day, while the other two experienced up to eight episodes of pain in 1 day. In two patients the periodicity of the pain was currently undetermined. In the remainder, the headache periods recurred every 1–4 years. Cluster headache is commonly considered to be a young-male disorder, but middle-aged and elderly women may also be affected. The characteristics of the pain and its manner of occurrence were similar in our cases to those reported in the young-male population.
PMID: 11442554
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Cephalalgia. 1988 Mar;8(1):37-44.Entrez PubMed
Cluster headache in women: clinical findings and relationship with
reproductive life.
Manzoni GC, Micieli G, Granella F, Martignoni E, Farina S, Nappi G
Department of Neurology, University of Parma, Italy.
Cluster headache (CH) occurs rarely among women; for this reason only a limited
number of studies have been reported on the characteristics of the disease in
the female population. In this study, 82 females (age range, 14-72 years) with
episodic (69 cases) or chronic (13 cases) CH were investigated. The clinical
features of headache and the physiologic events related to reproductive life
were compared with those of various control groups. We did not find any
remarkable differences in clinical features between men and women. Unlike other
forms of primary headache, the course of CH does not seem to be modified by
menstruation, pregnancy, or puerperium. Finally, our data seem to confirm a
hypofertility trend, mostly after onset of CH, which had previously been noticed
by other authors.
PMID: 3359483
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Page Updated: 03/25/2007