Abstract
Epilepsy and headache are two chronic disorders that are characterized by recurrent
attacks, but the relationship between them is not completely understood. Using a structured
questionnaire, we investigated the prevalence of headache during the previous year
in a homogeneous group of 100 patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal
sclerosis (MTLE-HS). The control group consisted of 100 age-matched individuals who
were randomized from a nationwide Brazilian headache database. There was a significantly
higher prevalence of headache (92%) among the MTLE-HS patients when compared with
the controls (73%; p=0.001). Chronic daily headache (CDH) was significantly associated with MTLE-HS (OR
6.1, CI 95% 1.7–22, p=0.005). We did not find any association between the diagnosis of migraine or tension-type
headache and MTLE-HS. This study showed that MTLE-HS increases the likelihood of a
headache diagnosis. In addition, CDH was more prevalent among the MTLE-HS patients,
which supports a common pathophysiological mechanism for epilepsy and headache.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 09, 2011
Accepted:
April 4,
2011
Received in revised form:
March 14,
2011
Received:
January 4,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
