Headache Is a Common Aura in Patients with Generalized Seizures

Although aura in epilepsy is usually considered as a phenomenon in patients with focal seizures, headache can occur as an aura or solitary epileptic symptom in patients with generalized seizures.

We performed a 14-year retrospective study of patients with generalized seizures and analyzed the proportion and characteristics of patients with auras including headache.

Among the 102 patients diagnosed with generalized seizures, aura was reported in 45 patients and headache was the most common aura in 26 patients. The age of onset of seizures was significantly lower in patients with headache as an aura than in patients without headache (14.8±3.8 vs. 24.7±16.2; p=0.003).

Our study showed that headache was the most common aura in patients with generalized seizures and patients with a younger age of onset of seizures were more likely to experience headache as an aura in these patients.