Abstract
Chronic daily headaches (CDH) is a descriptive term used for patients who experience headaches on at least 15 days or more out of the month; for at least 3 months, irrespective of the underlying headache etiology. It is a syndrome that affects many people, usually with an underlying primary headache disorder, leading to a reduction in quality of life. The two most common underlying primary headaches are migraines and tension-type headaches. The prevalence is about 4 %, and research is emerging on risk factors and comorbidities. The first step when approaching a patient with chronic daily headaches is to rule out secondary causes. Once that is done, the goal is to effectively reduce the days of headache through preventive treatment as well as complementary therapies. This also often involves limiting the use of abortive therapy to avoid medication-overuse headaches (MOH). The pathophysiology, although not fully understood, is thought to be related to central sensitization along with “neurogenic inflammation.” Chronic daily headaches can be difficult to treat and at times require a tertiary specialized center.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance
Halker RB, Hastriter EV, Dodick DW. Chronic daily headache: an evidence-based and systematic approach to a challenging problem. Neurology. 2011;76(7 Suppl 2):S37–43. Previous the review on the same subject.
Smitherman TA, Black AK, Davis CN. Treatment of PTSD and chronic daily headache. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2014;16(10):312–014–0312–7. Important review on epidemiology and treatment of chronic daily headache.
Pascual J, Colas R, Castillo J. Epidemiology of chronic daily headache. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2001;5(6):529–36.
Garza I, Schwedt TJ. Diagnosis and management of chronic daily headache. Semin Neurol. 2010;30(2):154–66. Comprehensive review.
Lipton RB, Stewart WF, Scher AI. Epidemiology and economic impact of migraine. Curr Med Res Opin. 2001;17 Suppl 1:s4–12.
Stewart WF, Ricci JA, Chee E, Morganstein D, Lipton R. Lost productive time and cost due to common pain conditions in the US workforce. JAMA. 2003;290(18):2443–54.
Meletiche DM, Lofland JH, Young WB. Quality-of-life differences between patients with episodic and transformed migraine. Headache. 2001;41(6):573–8.
Buse DC, Silberstein SD, Manack AN, Papapetropoulos S, Lipton RB. Psychiatric comorbidities of episodic and chronic migraine. J Neurol. 2013;260(8):1960–9.
Buse DC, Manack A, Serrano D, Turkel C, Lipton RB. Sociodemographic and comorbidity profiles of chronic migraine and episodic migraine sufferers. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2010;81(4):428–32.
Radat F, Lanteri-Minet M, Nachit-Ouinekh F, Massiou H, Lucas C, Pradalier A, et al. The GRIM2005 study of migraine consultation in France. III: psychological features of subjects with migraine. Cephalalgia. 2009;29(3):338–50.
Peterlin BL, Tietjen GE, Brandes JL, Rubin SM, Drexler E, Lidicker JR, et al. Posttraumatic stress disorder in migraine. Headache. 2009;49(4):541–51.
Peterlin BL, Tietjen G, Meng S, Lidicker J, Bigal M. Post-traumatic stress disorder in episodic and chronic migraine. Headache. 2008;48(4):517–22.
Saper JR, Hamel RL, Lake 3rd AE. Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a biobehavioural disorder. Cephalalgia. 2005;25(7):545–6.
Fuh JL, Wang SJ, Lu SR, Juang KD. Does medication overuse headache represent a behavior of dependence? Pain. 2005;119(1–3):49–55.
Scher AI, Midgette LA, Lipton RB. Risk factors for headache chronification. Headache. 2008;48(1):16–25.
Scher AI, Stewart WF, Lipton RB. Caffeine as a risk factor for chronic daily headache: a population-based study. Neurology. 2004;63(11):2022–7.
Scher AI, Stewart WF, Liberman J, Lipton RB. Prevalence of frequent headache in a population sample. Headache. 1998;38(7):497–506.
Schwartz BS, Stewart WF, Simon D, Lipton RB. Epidemiology of tension-type headache. JAMA. 1998;279(5):381–3.
Bigal ME, Rapoport AM, Tepper SJ, Sheftell FD, Lipton RB. The classification of chronic daily headache in adolescents—a comparison between the second edition of the international classification of headache disorders and alternative diagnostic criteria. Headache. 2005;45(5):582–9.
Bigal ME, Tepper SJ, Sheftell FD, Rapoport AM, Lipton RB. Chronic daily headache: correlation between the 2004 and the 1988 International Headache Society diagnostic criteria. Headache. 2004;44(7):684–91.
Buse DC, Manack AN, Fanning KM, Serrano D, Reed ML, Turkel CC, et al. Chronic migraine prevalence, disability, and sociodemographic factors: results from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study. Headache. 2012;52(10):1456–70.
Westergaard ML, Glumer C, Hansen EH, Jensen RH. Prevalence of chronic headache with and without medication overuse: associations with socioeconomic position and physical and mental health status. Pain. 2014;155(10):2005–13.
Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (IHS). The international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition (beta version). Cephalalgia. 2013;33(9):629–808.
Bigal ME, Sheftell FD, Rapoport AM, Tepper SJ, Lipton RB. Chronic daily headache: identification of factors associated with induction and transformation. Headache. 2002;42(7):575–81.
Silberstein SD, Lipton RB, Sliwinski M. Classification of daily and near-daily headaches: field trial of revised IHS criteria. Neurology. 1996;47(4):871–5.
Martelletti P, Katsarava Z, Lampl C, Magis D, Bendtsen L, Negro A, et al. Refractory chronic migraine: a consensus statement on clinical definition from the European Headache Federation. J Headache Pain. 2014;15:47-2377–15-47.
Goadsby PJ, Schoenen J, Ferrari MD, Silberstein SD, Dodick D. Towards a definition of intractable headache for use in clinical practice and trials. Cephalalgia. 2006;26(9):1168–70.
Park JW, Moon HS, Kim JM, Lee KS, Chu MK. Chronic daily headache in Korea: prevalence, clinical characteristics, medical consultation and management. J Clin Neurol. 2014;10(3):236–43.
Katsarava Z, Schneeweiss S, Kurth T, Kroener U, Fritsche G, Eikermann A, et al. Incidence and predictors for chronicity of headache in patients with episodic migraine. Neurology. 2004;62(5):788–90.
Ayzenberg I, Obermann M, Nyhuis P, Gastpar M, Limmroth V, Diener HC, et al. Central sensitization of the trigeminal and somatic nociceptive systems in medication overuse headache mainly involves cerebral supraspinal structures. Cephalalgia. 2006;26(9):1106–14.
Diener HC, Limmroth V. Medication-overuse headache: a worldwide problem. Lancet Neurol. 2004;3(8):475–83.
Sarchielli P, Alberti A, Floridi A, Gallai V. Levels of nerve growth factor in cerebrospinal fluid of chronic daily headache patients. Neurology. 2001;57(1):132–4.
Schwedt TJ, Dodick DW. Advanced neuroimaging of migraine. Lancet Neurol. 2009;8(6):560–8.
Amoils S, Amoils S, Lester T, Woolford L, Gallagher L. The positive impact of integrative medicine in the treatment of recalcitrant chronic daily headache: a series of case reports. Glob Adv Health Med. 2014;3(4):45–54.
Hickman C, Jacobson D, Melnyk BM. Randomized controlled trial of the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary effects of a cognitive behavioral skills building intervention in adolescents with chronic daily headaches: a pilot study. J Pediatr Health Care. 2014;29(1):5–16.
Lipton RB, Bigal ME, Diamond M, Freitag F, Reed ML, Stewart WF, et al. Migraine prevalence, disease burden, and the need for preventive therapy. Neurology. 2007;68(5):343–9.
Lipton RB, Bigal ME, Diamond M, AMPP Advisory Group, et al. Migraine prevalence, disease burden, and the need for preventive therapy. Neurology. 2007;68:343–9.
Lipton RB, Stewart WF, Stone AM, Lainez MJ, Sawyer JP. Disability in strategies of care study group. Stratified care vs step care strategies for migraine: the Disability in Strategies of Care (DISC) study: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2000;284(20):2599–605.
Hagen K, Linde M, Steiner TJ, Stovner LJ, Zwart JA. Risk factors for medication-overuse headache: an 11-year follow-up study. The Nord-Trondelag Health Studies. Pain. 2012;153(1):56–61.
Smith TR, Stoneman J. Medication overuse headache from antimigraine therapy: clinical features, pathogenesis and management. Drugs. 2004;64(22):2503–14.
Bigal ME, Lipton RB. Excessive acute migraine medication use and migraine progression. Neurology. 2008;71(22):1821–8.
Compliance with Ethics Guidelines
Conflict of Interest
Huma U. Sheikh declares no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is a part of the Topical Collection on Headache
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sheikh, H.U. Approach to Chronic Daily Headache. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 15, 4 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-015-0528-2
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-015-0528-2