Headache in hypothyroidism. Prevalence and outcome under thyroid hormone therapy

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency of headache in patients with hypothyroidism. DESIGN: A prospective study of a cohort of patients with hypothyroidism. SETTING: Outpatients or inpatients in a headache clinic and endocrinological clinic. PATIENTS: 102 adults, ages 35 to 78 (83F, 19M) experiencing clinical and biological hypothyroidism. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients with hypothyroidism of 102 (30%) presented with headache 1 to 2 months after the first symptoms of hypothyroidism. The headache was slight, nonpulsatile, continuous, bilateral, and salicylate responsive and disappeared with thyroid hormone therapy. CONCLUSION: The authors believe there is a prevalence of nonspecific headache in hypothyroidism and that it has a particular response to thyroid hormone therapy. Hypothyroidism is another cephalalgia with an endocrinological cause after menstrual cephalalgia. We suspect a metabolic or vascular pathophysiological process.