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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Headache and Neurogenic Pain
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1438312
This article is part of the Research Topic Headache and other symptoms in special populations View all 20 articles

Characterizing Headache Patients Admitted from the Emergency Department: A Retrospective

Provisionally accepted
Faisal AlGhamdi Faisal AlGhamdi 1*Abdulelah A Alzahrani Abdulelah A Alzahrani 2Khaleel I Alwatyan Khaleel I Alwatyan 1Reem A Hariri Reem A Hariri 2Abdullah A Alhowaish Abdullah A Alhowaish 2Rahaf F Almobarak Rahaf F Almobarak 2Mohammed Almulhim Mohammed Almulhim 1Faisal B Alkhadra Faisal B Alkhadra 1
  • 1 King Fahd University Hospital, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Headaches are a common complaint in emergency department (ED) presentations, but the demographics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of patients admitted with headaches remain understudied. This retrospective study aims to investigate patients admitted with a chief complaint of headache.The study examined the triage database of our ED from 01/01/2020 to 31/12/2022 to identify patients admitted to either the wards or intensive care unit (ICU) with headache as their primary complaint.Results: Out of 347 identified patients, 100 met the inclusion criteria. The gender distribution was equal. The majority of cases (36%) were between 31 and 45 years old. Headache and dizziness were the most common complaints (54%), followed by chest pain (18%) and abdominal pain (10%). Neurological system involvement was observed in 60% of cases. Computed Tomography (CT) scans were performed in 87% of cases, while Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans were done in 45% of cases. Comorbidities such as central nervous system (CNS) diseases (40%) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (36%) were prevalent. The average length of stay in the ED before admission was 35.3 hours.This study provides insights into the demographics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of patients admitted with headaches in the ED. The equal gender distribution and age distribution align with findings from other studies. The high utilization rate of CT scans suggests diagnostic uncertainty among emergency physicians. These findings contribute to the understanding of headache presentations in the ED and serve as a foundation for future research.

    Keywords: Headache, emergency department, Demographics, Clinical Characteristics, outcomes Background

    Received: 25 May 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 AlGhamdi, Alzahrani, Alwatyan, Hariri, Alhowaish, Almobarak, Almulhim and Alkhadra. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Faisal AlGhamdi, King Fahd University Hospital, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.