title: The frequency of postdural puncture headache in different age groups.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the frequency of postdural puncture headache (PDPH) in younger and older age groups i.e. 30-50 years and 51-75 years in patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional comparative study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anesthesia Department of Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, from June to December 2002.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred patients, fulfilling the American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) I and II criteria, were included in the study and the results of PDPH in both age groups were compared and Chi-square test was applied. The level of significance was significant, if the p-value was less than 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The occurrence of PDPH was more in young patients i.e. 30 patients (30%) in group A, as compared to 5 patients (5%) in group B (p<0.05) Female patients had higher frequency of PDPH in both groups. In group A, 20 female patients (40%) had PDPH as compared to 10 male patients (20%), while in group B, 4 female patients (8%) had PDPH as compared to 1 male patient (2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frequency of postdural puncture headache (PDPH) was less in older age group than younger age group and more frequent in females than males.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Roheena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wadud
authors.forename: Nasreen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Laiq
authors.forename: Fayyaz Akhtar
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.forename: Akbar Said
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Jan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051299:Post-Dural Puncture Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*