Abstract
To determine the frequency and characteristics of the headaches suffered by hospitalised psychiatric patients.A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted among the patients admitted to the National Psychiatric Hospital in Zimbabwe who required consultation in Internal Medicine due to headaches. The International Headache Society classification was used. Demographic data (age and sex), alarm signals (age of onset of headaches after the age of 50 years, thunderclap headache, persistent unilateral location, presence of febrile symptoms, mental changes, new focal symptoms, history of traumatic head injury, Aids or cancer and the presence of meningeal signs) and definitive diagnosis.Altogether 180 (8.7%) patients visited mainly due to headaches, 28 (15.6%) of whom were attended for primary headaches and 152 (84.4%) had secondary type headaches. Chronic tension-type headache was the most common among primary headaches (39.3%); the most frequently diagnosed secondary headaches were those due to systemic disorders, with 119 cases; and a neurological cause was found in 33 patients. Most of the alarm signals appeared in patients with secondary headaches.Headache is a frequent reason for visiting in the Internal Medicine consultation at the National Psychiatric Hospital in Zimbabwe; the prevalence of secondary headaches due to neurological causes is high.
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