Headache in chagasic women.
The aim of this study was to compare the frequency of headache between Chagasic and Non-chagasic women. The cross-sectional study comprised 647 female > or = 40 years old, Chagasic (n = 362) and Controls (n = 285) at a Brazilian University Hospital. Chagasic were classified as Cardiac (n = 179), Megas (n = 58) or Indeterminate (n = 125) clinical forms. Headache was ascertained according to Headache International Society diagnostic criteria. The age (57.0 +/- 11.3 versus 57.3 +/- 10.4 years), and the percentage of white women (75.8% versus 77.1%) were similar between Chagasic and Controls, respectively. Headache was more prevalent among Chagasic (32.9%) than Controls (16.1%), mainly in Cardiac form (odds ratio, 2.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.38-4.23), phenomenon possibly related to parasympathetic denervation and cerebral vessels changes.
Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School of Uberaba, Brazil.
V M
VM
dos Santos
S F
SF
da Cunha
V de P
Vde P
Teixeira
J P
JP
Monteiro
J A
JA
dos Santos
T A
TA
dos Santos
L A
LA
dos Santos
D F
DF
da Cunha
D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000150:complications*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies