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Published on: June 2, 2014
Headache in the neurology clinic: a 2-year audit
Kinley Roberts1, Linda Harrington2, Sinéad M Murphy2,3
1Department of Neurology, Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin 24, Ireland. kinley.roberts@nrh.ie.
Background:
Headache is the most common reason for referral to neurology outpatient clinics in Ireland and represents approximately 30% of all new appointments.
Aim:
To evaluate diagnoses and outcomes of all patients newly referred with headache to a consultant neurologist at an Irish university teaching hospital over a 2-year period.
Design:
A retrospective analysis and audit.
Methods:
Data including patient demographics, red flags, investigations, diagnosis, and outcome were collected on consecutive patients newly referred with headache to a consultant neurologist's outpatient clinic over a 2-year period.
Results:
Two hundred and seventy patients with headache were seen; 75% were women with mean age of 39 years. 89.26% (241/270) were diagnosed with a primary headache disorder alone; 4.44% (12/270) with a secondary headache disorder alone; 3.33% (9/270) with both a primary and secondary headache disorders; and 2.96% (8/270) with a painful cranial neuropathy. Migraine was the most common diagnosis, frequently associated with medication overuse. Non-attendance rates were high. Although imaging abnormalities were frequently found, on no occasion was it thought to be the cause of the headache.
Conclusions:
Most patients referred to a neurology outpatient clinic with headache have a primary headache disorder. Alternate pathways should be considered to reduce the burden on Ireland's limited neurology resources without compromising patient safety.
