tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Neurol Sci
. 2021 Jan 27.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05075-8. Online ahead of print.
Facemask headache: a new nosographic entity among healthcare providers in COVID-19 era
Laura Rapisarda[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michele Trimboli[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Francesco Fortunato[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Antonio De Martino[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Oreste Marsico[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Giulio Demonte[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Antonio Augimeri[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Angelo Labate[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Antonio Gambardella[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: SARS-CoV-2 is a novel infectious agent causing coronavirus disease 2019, which has been declared as pandemic in March 2020. Personal protective equipment has been mandatory for healthcare workers in order to contain the outbreak of pandemic disease. Mild neurological disturbances such as headache have been related to the extensive utilization of facemask. This study aims to examine headache variations related to the intensive utilization of facemask among a cohort of healthcare professionals in a setting of low-medium risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study among healthcare providers from different hospital and clinics in Italy. Each participant completed a specifically designed self-administered questionnaire. Headache features and outcome measures' change from baseline were evaluated over a 4-month period, in which wearing facemask has become mandatory for Italian healthcare workers.
Results: A total of 400 healthcare providers completed the questionnaire, 383 of them met the inclusion criteria. The majority were doctors, with a mean age of 33.4 ? 9.2 years old. Among 166/383 subjects, who were headache free at baseline, 44 (26.5%) developed de novo headache. Furthermore, 217/383 reported a previous diagnosis of primary headache disorder: 137 were affected by migraine and 80 had tension-type headache. A proportion (31.3%) of these primary headache sufferers experienced worsening of their pre-existing headache disorder, mainly for migraine frequency and attack mean duration.
Conclusions: Our data showed the appearance of de novo associated facemask headache in previous headache-free subjects and an exacerbation of pre-existing primary headache disorders, mostly experienced by people with migraine disease.
Keywords: Allodynia; Migraine; Tension-type headache.
. 2021 Jan 27.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05075-8. Online ahead of print.
Facemask headache: a new nosographic entity among healthcare providers in COVID-19 era
Laura Rapisarda[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michele Trimboli[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Francesco Fortunato[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Antonio De Martino[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Oreste Marsico[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Giulio Demonte[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Antonio Augimeri[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Angelo Labate[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Antonio Gambardella[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33502666
- DOI: 10.1007/s10072-021-05075-8
Abstract
Background: SARS-CoV-2 is a novel infectious agent causing coronavirus disease 2019, which has been declared as pandemic in March 2020. Personal protective equipment has been mandatory for healthcare workers in order to contain the outbreak of pandemic disease. Mild neurological disturbances such as headache have been related to the extensive utilization of facemask. This study aims to examine headache variations related to the intensive utilization of facemask among a cohort of healthcare professionals in a setting of low-medium risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study among healthcare providers from different hospital and clinics in Italy. Each participant completed a specifically designed self-administered questionnaire. Headache features and outcome measures' change from baseline were evaluated over a 4-month period, in which wearing facemask has become mandatory for Italian healthcare workers.
Results: A total of 400 healthcare providers completed the questionnaire, 383 of them met the inclusion criteria. The majority were doctors, with a mean age of 33.4 ? 9.2 years old. Among 166/383 subjects, who were headache free at baseline, 44 (26.5%) developed de novo headache. Furthermore, 217/383 reported a previous diagnosis of primary headache disorder: 137 were affected by migraine and 80 had tension-type headache. A proportion (31.3%) of these primary headache sufferers experienced worsening of their pre-existing headache disorder, mainly for migraine frequency and attack mean duration.
Conclusions: Our data showed the appearance of de novo associated facemask headache in previous headache-free subjects and an exacerbation of pre-existing primary headache disorders, mostly experienced by people with migraine disease.
Keywords: Allodynia; Migraine; Tension-type headache.