ASSOCIATION OF SERUM CREATININE AND AGE WITH HEADACHE CAUSED BY NITRATES

To assess whether serum creatinine and age are associated with headach e induced by nitrates, 2742 hospitalized patients taking nitrates were studied during their hospital stay. Those patients with admission ser um creatinine levels from 97 to 133 mu mol/L and >133 mu mol/L were co mpared with patients with creatinine levels <97 mu mol/L. Gender, body mass index, comorbidity, cognitive status, new intake of nitrates, nu mber of daily administrations, and daily dosage, as well as intake of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium antagonists, diureti cs and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were examined as possible confounders. Fifty-six patients had headaches that had a causal link w ith intake of nitrates. Compared with the lowest creatinine group, aft er adjustment for potential confounding variables, the odds ratios and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for headache caused by nitrates asso ciated with increasing serum creatinine levels were 0.6 (95% CI, 0.3 t o 1.1) and 0.2 (95% CI, 0.0 to 1.2), respectively (p for trend = 0.013 ). Increasing age was inversely associated with headache (odds ratio f or 10-year increase, 0.6 [95% CI, 0.5 to 0.7]). Serum creatinine and a ge were independently and inversely associated with headache caused by nitrates.