Characteristics of the first 2,000 patients registered in a specialist headache clinic.
OBJECTIVE
Headache is a common cause of medical consultations. We aim to analyze demographic characteristics of first two thousand patients in our register, and the incidence of their different headaches coded according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, ii edition (ICHD-II).


METHODS
On January 2008 a headache outpatient clinic was established in a tertiary hospital. Patients could be referred by general practitioners according to previously consensused criteria, as well as by general neurology or other specialities clinics. The following variables were prospectively collected on all patients; age, sex, referral source, complementary tests required, and the previously prescribed symptomatic or prophylactic therapies. All headaches were classified accordingly to ICHD-II. When a patient fulfilled criteria for more than one type of headache, all of them were diagnosed and classified.


RESULTS
In October 2012, 2000 patients (ratio women/men 2.59/1) had been seen in our headache clinic. The median age was 42 years (range: 11-94), 55.3% were referred from primary care, and 68.1% did not require complementary tests. A total of 3095 headaches were recorded in these 2000 patients, of which 2222 (71.8%) were considered primary headaches, 382 (12.3%) secondary headaches, with 117 (3.8%) corresponding to cranial neuralgias, 136 (4.3%) were unclassified headaches, and 238 (7.7%) were included in the research Appendix of the ICHD-II. The most represented group was 1 (migraine) with 53% of all headaches.


CONCLUSIONS
The characteristics of first 2000 patients in our register were comparable to those previously described in other types of headache outpatient clinics. Migraine was the most frequent diagnosis, and secondary headaches were not as frequent in our series. Most headaches could be coded according to ICHD-II criteria.
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, España.
M I
MI
Pedraza
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, España.
P
P
Mulero
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, España.
M
M
Ruíz
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, España.
C
C
de la Cruz
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, España.
S
S
Herrero
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Valladolid, España. Electronic address: gueneurol@gmail.com.
A L
AL
Guerrero
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D012042:Registries; D013030:Spain; D013038:Specialization; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult
Cefalea secundaria; Cefalea tensional; Clasificación internacional de cefaleas; Consulta monográfica de cefaleas; Headache registry; International classification of headache disorders; Migraine; Migraña; Outpatient headache clinic; Registro de cefaleas; Secondary headache; Tension-type headache