Headache in Pregnancy: An Overview of Differential Diagnoses

Headache is a common symptom in pregnancy, reported in up to 35% of women during their antenatal period. During pregnancy, women may experience their first episodes of headache, which could become a recurrent problem. The purpose of this review is to recognise the classical presentation and contributory factors of primary and secondary headaches. Primary headaches include tension type headache and migraine. Secondary headaches include hypertension, pre-eclampsia, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, subarachnoid haemorrhage, cerebral venous thrombosis, and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome. As we encounter headaches so frequently in patients who are pregnant, we need to equip ourselves to recognise the ‘red flag’ signs that would alert practitioners to the need for urgent management and differentiate it from those that are benign. This article will cover the following topics: