Headaches in the pregnant patient.

Headache disorders are highly prevalent throughout the world, and have a female predominance. More than 80% of women in the reproductive age group experience headache at some point, making it a common occurrence in pregnancy.1 The International Headache Society broadly categorizes headaches as primary or secondary. As is the case in the non-pregnant population, primary headaches (such as migraine headaches, tension headaches and cluster headaches, chronic daily headaches or medication overuse headaches) account for majority of the cases of headache seen in pregnancy. Secondary headaches are headaches attributable to another underlying cause. Certain causes of secondary headaches deserve special consideration in pregnancy as they might be either unique to pregnancy or be exacerbated by physiologic changes of the gravid state.