HEADACHE AFTER WHIPLASH - A HISTORICAL COHORT STUDY OUTSIDE THE MEDICOLEGAL CONTEXT

Headache is frequently reported as a chronic complaint after whiplash traumas. Criteria have been presented, but it has not been validated w hether any specific headache type emerges after a trauma with whiplash mechanism. In a questionnaire-based historical cohort design, 202 adu lt Lithuanian individuals. were interviewed 1-3 years after experienci ng a rear-end car collision. The questionnaire was designed so that a diagnosis of migraine and tension-type headache in accordance with the International Headache Society criteria could be made. ''Possible cer vicogenic headache'' was diagnosed according to Sjaastad et al.'s mini mal criteria. The diagnostic panorama in those with traumas was compar ed with that of an age- and sex-matched control group. The introductor y questions did not reveal differences in headache frequencies between the traumatized and control groups (p=0.60). The prevalence of migrai ne and tension-type headache (both episodic and chronic) was also simi lar. A higher frequency of possible cervicogenic headache was observed in the traumatized group (10 vs 5), but the difference was not statis tically significant (p = 0.28). Sixteen patients in the accident group had headache,>15 days per month, 11 of the 16 had similar complaints before the trauma, while 5 had worsened headache as compared to (the r ecollected headache) before the trauma. None of the patients with poss ible cervicogenic headache reported increased headache after the accid ent. Accordingly, the present results obtained outside the medico-lega l context do not confirm that a specific headache pattern emerges 1-3 years after a rear-end car collision.