Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Multicenter Study
Headache at stroke onset in 2196 patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.
Headache is a common symptom in acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, but many aspects of its association with other clinical factors are controversial. ⋯ Our results, derived from a large number of systematically documented patients with acute ischemic cerebrovascular events, show no association of headache with stroke etiology or outcome. Our results indicate that the previously described association of headache with vertebrobasilar stroke is mainly because of its association with cerebellar stroke. We could confirm previously described associations of headache at stroke onset with younger age and a history of migraine, implicating a careful evaluation of young patients with a focal neurological deficit and a history of migraine to avoid misclassification as "complicated migraine."