HEADACHE DURING PREGNANCY

A questionnaire was submitted to 430 women 3 days after delivery, aski ng mainly about features of headache before and during pregnancy and t heir possible modification or recurrence; moreover, delivery modalitie s and the condition of the newborn were evaluated. One-hundred-and-twe nty-six (29.3%) were found to be primary headache sufferers (IHS crite ria; 1988), 81 of whom had migraine without aura (MO), 12 migraine wit h aura (MA), and 33 tension-type headache (TH). In all three groups, a bout 80% showed complete remission or a higher than 50% decrease in th e number of attacks. The improvement was more evident after the end of the first trimester; this trend was common to the three primary heada ches considered. In our series of primary headaches, there was only on e case (MO) which began during pregnancy. In a subgroup of pluripara, headache maintained the improvement presented in the first pregnancy a lso during the following gravidic periods in about 50% of cases, where as in the remaining 50% a worsening in parallel with successive pregna ncies was found. Primary headaches ''per se'' do not seem to increase the pregnancy or delivery risks, nor the vitality of the newborn. Duri ng pregnancy, drug use was very much reduced and was restricted to a l imited number of compounds.