Prevalence of different types of headaches in adult onco-haematological patients before allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation

The prevalence of various types of headaches in onco-haematological patients has been understudied so far. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of various types of primary and secondary headaches in oncohaematological patients before haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Material and methods. We conducted a retrospective study of 65 adult (≥ 18 years old) onco-haematological patients. The history of primary and secondary types of headaches, total number of headache types in an individual, the relationship between the presence of headache and onco-haematological disease features, as well as the sensitivity and specificity of ID Migraine questionnaire were assessed.

Results. A history of headache was found in 36 patients (55.4%). Among primary headaches, migraine was the most common (24.6%; n = 16). Among secondary headaches, post-dural puncture headache was the most prevalent (15.4%; n = 10). Almost a quarter of patients had 2 or more headache types (2 types were found in 16.92% of patients, 3 types were found in 6.15% of patients, 4 types were found in 1.54% of patients). No feature of oncohaematological disease was found to have a significant association with the presence of headache or a significant correlation with the number of headache types in an individual. The female sex increased the OR for the presence of primary headache (OR 0.23; 95% CI 0.06–0.86; p = 0.02). Sensitivity and specificity of ID Migraine™ questionnaire were found to be 90.9% (95% CI 58.7–99.8) and 58.3% (95% CI 27.7–84.8), respectively.

Conclusion. More than half of onco-haematological patients referred for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation had a history of headache, the most common type being migraine. In our sample, screening with ID Migraine questionnaire had high sensitivity, but low specificity.

1. Goldlust S.A., Graber J.J., Bossert D.F., Avila E.K. Headache in patients with cancer. Curr. Pain Headache Rep. 2010;14(6):455–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-010-0153-3 PMID: 20927609

2. Sadighi Z.S., Ness K.K., Hudson M.M., Morris E.B., Ledet D.S., Pui C.H. et al. Headache types, related morbidity, and quality of life in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a prospective cross sectional study. Eur. J. Paediatr. Neurol. 2014;18(6):722–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpn.2014.06.006 Epub 2014 Jul 5. PMID: 25030329; PMCID: PMC4253065

3. Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (IHS) The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition. Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102417738202 PMID: 29368949

4. Lipton R.B., Dodick D., Sadovsky R., Kolodner K., Endicott J., Hettiarachchi J., Harrison W. ID Migraine validation study. A self-administered screener for migraine in primary care: The ID Migraine validation study. Neurology. 2003;61(3):375–82. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000078940.53438.83 PMID: 12913201

5. Goldsby R.E., Liu Q., Nathan P.C., Bowers D.C., YeatonMassey A., Raber S.H., Hill D. et al. Late-occurring neurologic sequelae in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. J. Clin. Oncol. 2010;28(2):324–31. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2009.22.5060 Epub 2009 Nov 16. PMID: 19917844; PMCID: PMC2815720

6. Ayzenberg I., Katsarava Z., Sborowski A., Chernysh M., Osipova V., Tabeeva G., Yakhno N., Steiner T.J. The prevalence of primary headache disorders in Russia: a countrywide survey. Cephalalgia. 2012;32(5):373–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102412438977 Epub 2012 Mar 6. PMID: 22395797

7. Katsarava Z., Dzagnidze A., Kukava M., Mirvelashvili E., Djibuti M., Janelidze M. et al. Lifting The Burden: The Global Campaign to Reduce the Burden of Headache Worldwide and the Russian Linguistic Subcommittee of the International Headache Society. Primary headache disorders in the Republic of Georgia: prevalence and risk factors. Neurology. 2009;73(21):1796–803. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181c34abb PMID: 19933983

8. Li C., Zhang L., Zhou J., Fan Z., Wang Y., Wang X. et al. Prevalence of primary headache disorders among information technology staff in China: the negative effects of computer use and other correlative factors. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1):443. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08497-9 PMID: 32248815; PMCID: PMC7132864

9. Ertaş M., Baykan B., Tuncel D., Gökçe M., Gökçay F., Sirin H. et al.; MIRA-3 Study Group. A comparative ID migraine screener study in ophthalmology, ENT and neurology out-patient clinics. Cephalalgia. 2009;29(1):68–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2982.2008.01702.x Epub 2008 Sep 2. PMID: 18771489

10. Brighina F., Salemi G., Fierro B., Gasparro A., Balletta G., Aloisio A. et al. A validation study of an Italian version of the ID Migraine: preliminary results. J. Headache Pain. 2005;6(4):216–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10194-005-0189-7 PMID: 16362668; PMCID: PMC3451999

11. Karli N., Ertas M., Baykan B., Uzunkaya O., Saip S., Zarifoglu M., Siva A.; MIRA study group. The validation of ID Migraine screener in neurology outpatient clinics in Turkey. J. Headache Pain. 2007;8(4):217–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10194-007-0397-4 Epub 2007 Sep 24. PMID: 17901923; PMCID: PMC3451667

12. Wang X., San Y.Z., Sun J.M., Zhou H.B., Li X., Zhang Z.M. et al. Validation of the Chinese Version of ID-Migraine in Medical Students and Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis Concerning Its Diagnostic Accuracy. J. Oral Facial Pain Headache. 2015;29(3):265–78. https://doi.org/10.11607/ofph.1341 PMID: 26244435

13. Cousins G., Hijazze S., Van de Laar F.A., Fahey T. Diagnostic accuracy of the ID Migraine: a systematic review and metaanalysis. Headache. 2011;51(7):1140–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4610.2011.01916.x Epub 2011 Jun 7. PMID: 21649653

14. Matsushita M., Matsumoto K., Kitamura S., Komatsu N., Seo H., Takeuchi S. Validation of the “My Headache Checker” that includes osmophobia in the diagnosis of migraine. J. Gen. Fam. Med. 2020;22(1):24–27. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgf2.368 PMID: 33457152; PMCID: PMC7796788

15. Streel S., Donneau A.F., Dardenne N., Hoge A., Bruyère O., Albert A. et al. Validation of an extended French version of ID Migraine™ as a migraine-screening tool. Cephalalgia. 2015;35(5):437–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102414544910 Epub 2014 Aug 12. PMID: 25115843

16. Sancisi E., Cevoli S., Vignatelli L., Nicodemo M., Pierangeli G., Zanigni S. et al. Increased prevalence of sleep disorders in chronic headache: a case-control study. Headache. 2010;50(9):1464–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4610.2010.01711.x PMID: 20572880

17. Buse D.C., Manack A., Serrano D., Turkel C., Lipton R.B. Sociodemographic and comorbidity profiles of chronic migraine and episodic migraine sufferers. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry. 2010;81(4):428–32. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2009.192492 Epub 2010 Feb 17. PMID: 20164501

18. Andersen A.M., Ashina H., Iljazi A., Al-Khazali H.M., Chaudhry B., Ashina M. et al. Risk Factors for the Development of Post-Traumatic Headache Attributed to Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review. Headache. 2020;60(6):1066–1075. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.13812 Epub 2020 Apr 22. PMID: 32320055

19. Haller G., Cornet J., Boldi M.O., Myers C., Savoldelli G., Kern C. Risk factors for post-dural puncture headache following injury of the dural membrane: a root-cause analysis and nested case-control study. Int. J. Obstet. Anesth. 2018;36:17–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijoa.2018.05.007 Epub 2018 May 31. PMID: 30392650

20. Carvalho Dias M., Martins T., Basílio G., Lucas Neto L., Caeiro L., Ferro J.M., Verdelho A. Headache at the Chronic Stage of Ischemic Stroke. Headache. 2020;60(3):607–614. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.13761 Epub 2020 Feb 5. PMID: 32022265

21. Chen C.H., Sheu J.J., Lin Y.C., Lin H.C. Association of migraines with brain tumors: a nationwide population-based study. J. Headache Pain. 2018;19(1):111. https://doi.org/10.1186/s10194-018-0944-1 PMID: 30442087; PMCID: PMC6755602

22. Fan C.Y., Lin C.S., Huang W.Y., Lin K.T., Chao H.L., Tsao C.C. et al. Association Between Migraine and Breast Cancer Risk: A Population-Based Cohort Study and Literature Review. J. Womens Health (Larchmt). 2018;27(12):1499–1507. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2018.6929 Epub 2018 Sep 5. PMID: 30183462

23. Rice M.S., Rist P.M., Winter A.C., Kurth T., Tworoger S.S. Migraine and invasive epithelial ovarian cancer risk in the Nurses’ Health Study II and the Women’s Health Study. Int. J. Cancer. 2018;142(3):534–539. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.31062 Epub 2017 Oct 30. PMID: 28929486; PMCID: PMC5856461

24. Gluexam T., Grandits A.M., Schlerka A., Nguyen C.H., Etzler J., Finkes T. et al. CGRP Signaling via CALCRL Increases Chemotherapy Resistance and Stem Cell Properties in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019;20(23):5826. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20235826 PMID: 31756985; PMCID: PMC6928760

25. Angenendt L., Bormann E., Pabst C., Alla V., Görlich D., Braun L. et al. The neuropeptide receptor calcitonin receptorlike (CALCRL) is a potential therapeutic target in acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia. 2019;33(12):2830–2841. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-019-0505-x Epub 2019 Jun 10. PMID: 31182782

26. De la Riva P., Andres-Marín N., Gonzalo-Yubero N., TaintaCuezva M., Caminos N., Urtasun-Ocariz M.Á., Martí-Massó J.F. Headache and other complications following intrathecal chemotherapy administration. Cephalalgia. 2017;37(11):1109–1110. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102416668658 Epub 2016 Sep 1. PMID: 27586881

27. Skiba Ya.B., Polushin A.Yu., Prokudin M.Yu., Vladovskaya M.D., Kulagin A.D. Acute symptomatic seizures during haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Epilepsy and paroxysmal conditions. 2021;13(1):65–82. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17749/2077-8333/epi.par.con.2021.049