Post-COVID Headache: A Literature Review
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Post-COVID headache may be unique in presentation and mechanism, often presenting as a new phenotype in patients with a history of a primary headache disorder or resulting in a new headache syndrome in those without history of headache. This review presents a description of the literature published focused on post-COVID headache. Additionally, we discuss potential mechanisms and considerations for treatment of post-COVID headache.
RECENT FINDINGS: Headache is one of the most common symptoms of COVID. Common characteristics are revealed when reviewing the phenotypes of headaches that have been described in patients with COVID-19, with most headache phenotypes resembling migraine and new persistent daily headache. Post-COVID headaches are often described as moderate to severe, persistent, and treatment refractory. This review highlights the diversity of presentation of headaches that present as a complication of COVID-19. Treatment of post-COVID headache is challenging, especially in the setting of a pandemic where resources are limited.
CLINICAL CASE: A 42-year-old woman with a history of episodic migraine without aura presents over video visit with a new headache type. Her typical headaches are predominantly left sided, throbbing in nature, and associated with photophobia and phonophobia. They are fully relieved by oral sumatriptan 2 h after treatment. She describes this new headache as a constant, pulsating, holocephalic pain with no other migrainous…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
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