Headaches: new classification, clinical and diagnostic criteria in General Medicine

Abstract

The classification system of headaches is one of the oldest in medicine, and includes a hugeamount of types and causes. The International Headache Society has listed two broad categoriesfor headache disorders: primary headache disorders, which lack a clear underlying causativepathology, and secondary headache disorders, that have a known cause. This is an overviewaddressed to general practitioners to help making a first-line headache diagnosis basing on themost common types of headache listed in the 2013 International Classification of Headachedisorder 3rd edition (beta version). Although headache diagnosis and treatment have madesubstantial gains in the last decade, the disease is still underdiagnosed and undertreated:improvements in several areas are required, especially in General Medicine.