Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients with stabbing headache according to ICHD-3 beta criteria at the initial and follow-up visit
All patientsa (N = 280) | Primary stabbing headacheb (N = 236) | Secondary stabbing headacheb (N = 9) | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gender | |||||
Male | 103 (36.8 %) | 89 (37.7 %) | 5 (55.5 %) | 0.280 | |
Female | 177 (63.2 %) | 147 (62.3 %) | 4 (44.4 %) | ||
Mean age | 51.4 ± 13.3 | 50.6 ± 13.4 | 54.6 ± 14.1 | 0.385 | |
Fixed location | 230 (97.5 %) | 9 (100 %) | 0.628 | ||
Pain lateralization | |||||
Unilateral | 278 (99.3 %) | 234 (99.2 %) | 9 (100.0 %) | 0.781 | |
Bilateral | 2 (0.7 %) | 2 (0.8 %) | 0 (0.0 %) | ||
Location of pain | |||||
V1 region | 27 (9.6 %) | 22 (9.3 %) | 1 (11.1 %) | 0.857 | |
V2 region | 28 (10.0 %) | 27 (11.4 %) | 1 (11.1 %) | ||
V3 region | 8 (2.9 %) | 7 (3.0 %) | 0 (0.0 %) | ||
All trigeminal regions | 63 (22.5 %) | 55 (23.3 %) | 2 (22.2 %) | 0.940 | |
Lesser occipital nerve region | 129 (46.1 %) | 109 (46.2 %) | 4 (44.4 %) | ||
Greater occipital nerve region | 80 (28.6 %) | 64 (27.1 %) | 3 (33.3 %) | ||
Great auricular nerve | 6 (2.1 %) | 6 (2.5 %) | 0 (0.0 %) | ||
All upper cervical regions | 217 (77.5 %) | 181 (76.7 %) | 7 (77.8 %) | 0.891 | |
Multiple locations | 2 (0.7 %) | 2 (0.8 %) | 0 (0.0 %) | 0.782 | |
Visual Analog Scale for pain intensity | 4.6 ± 1.6 | 4.5 ± 1.6 | 6.8 ± 1.6 | <0.001 | |
Onset to hospital visit interval (days) | 4.0 ± 3.7 | 4.0 ± 3.9 | 5.1 ± 2.4 | 0.341 | |
Improvement at follow-up visit | 226 (95.8 %) | 5 (55.5 %) | <0.001 | ||
Duration of improvement (days) among responders | 3.2 ± 1.9 | 4.8 ± 1.5 | 0.060 | ||
Preceding infection | 21 (7.5 %) | 21 (8.9 %) | 0 (0.0 %) | 0.083 | |
Stressful event | 61 (21.8 %) | 48 (20.3 %) | 4 (7.7 %) | 0.083 | |
Allodynia | 53 (18.9 %) | 45 (19.1 %) | 2 (22.1 %) | 0.814 | |