HEADACHE DURING PREGNANCY AND IN THE POSTPARTUM - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

The association between sex hormones and chronic headache has been the subject of a good deal of speculation. Headache is predicted to impro ve during pregnancy, when estrogen levels rise steadily until delivery . Retrospective studies have suggested that women with a history of mi graines do tend to report decreases in headache activity with pregnanc y. The purpose of this naturalistic study was to examine changes in he adache that may occur during pregnancy and postpartum in women complai ning of migraine, tension-type, or combined migraine and tension-type headaches in a prospective design. Thirty women recorded their headach es daily throughout pregnancy and up to 12 weeks postpartum. Results b ased on these ratings demonstrated a nonsignificant trend for headache to decrease throughout pregnancy and to increase during the birth wea k. Headache patterns varied slightly depending on headache diagnosis a nd parity. Contrary to previous retrospective study reports, migraine sufferers demonstrated an increase in headache in the third trimester. In addition, there was a tendency in multiparous woman for headaches to increase in the third trimester, whereas primiparous women reported less headache activity throughout pregnancy and the postpartum.