Çukurova Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi (Jun 2013)
The relationship between minor head trauma and post-traumatic headache
Abstract
Aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between minor head injury and post-traumatic headache (PTH) in patients admitted to the emergency department due to minor head trauma. Material and Methods: Patients admitted to Emergency Medicine Department with minor head trauma between 01.01.2009 - 31.12.2010 were planned to be taken to this prospective study. Demographic characteristics, detailed risk factors, type of trauma, duration of amnesia, brief history of headaches, psychiatric diseases, history of drug use, findings of the physical and neurological examinations made after admission, before discharged and after 3 months, x-ray and CT findings of all patients with and without PTH were recorded in the standard data entry form. Patients with severe head injury, consciousness levels of stupor and coma, pregnancy, under the age of 18 were excluded. In this study, SPSS 17.0 software package was used for statistical analysis of all the data. The statistical significance level of all tests was p <0.05. Results: In our study, the most common reasons of minor head trauma were inside motor vehicle traffic accidents (36.1%) and outside motor vehicle traffic accidents (32.8%) in a total of 119 patients. PTH was detected in 87% of patients with isolated head trauma, 88.4% of patients with head + cervikal trauma, 93.3% of patients with head + cervical + whiplash trauma. History of drug use related to psychiatric diseases (p = 0.019), post-traumatic photophobia (p = 0.037), vomiting (p = 0.029), dizziness (p = 0.019), sleep disturbance (p = <0.001), depression (p = 0.001), decrease in sexual desire (p = 0.038), anxiety (p = <0.001), outbursts of anger (p = 0.002) and post-traumatic alcohol consumption (p = 0.042) of the patients with and without PTH were compared and a statistically significant increases were determined. A statistically significant reduction in frequency and the duration of headache was detected after third mounth control examination of the 106 patients with PTH (p = 0.02). Conclusion: History of psychiatric illness prior to the existence of minor head trauma increased the development of PTBA. Increased alcohol consumption and symptoms of post-traumatic syndrome were found to be more prevalent in patients with PTH. [Cukurova Med J 2013; 38(3.000): 456-466]
