IHC 2021 | Learnings from COVID-19 headache

Edoardo Caronna, MD, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, shares what has been learned about headache during the COVID-19 pandemic. Headache is the most common neurological symptom of COVID-19, and it seems to be associated with a better prognosis of COVID-19 disease, which suggests that some of the mechanisms underlying headache could also be involved in survival enhancement. Considering the clinical presentation of headache that in some patients presents migraine-like features, SARS-CoV-2 can probably activate the trigeminovascular system involved in migraine pathophysiology. So there might be some shared pathophysiological mechanisms between primary and secondary headache disorders. Additionally, Dr Caronna discusses the relevance of those learnings in the headache field, remarkably how a better understanding of COVID-19 headache can also improve our knowledge of primary headache disorders. This interview took place during the International Headache Congress 2021.