Characteristics of headache at altitude among Trekkers; a comparison between acute mountain sickness and non- acute mountain sickness headache

ABSTRACT

Headache at altitudes has had an incidence of 25-62% through many related studies. Many reasons are identified concerning headache at altitudes such as acute mountain sickness [AMS], sinus headache, migraine, tension type headache, and frontal tension headache. This study tried to compare different types of headache among trekkers on Mount Damavand, a 5671m mountain, Iran, to find their incidence and related symptoms and signs. Through a cross-sectional study, we evaluated headache incidence and its correlation to AMS among people who climbed Mount Damavand. Lake Louise Score, a self-report questionnaire, was applied to make AMS diagnosis through three separate stages of trekking program. Chi-square test was employed as the main mean of analysis. Totally, 459 between 13-71 years old participated in the study among which females were 148 [32.1%] and males 311 [67.8%]. Headache was found in 398 [86.7%] among whom 279 [70%] were proved as AMS. Investigating the types of headache in the cases of AMS showed 64.5% steady, 31% throbbing, and 4.5% stabbing characters which had significant differences with a P value = 0.003. The majority of headaches were stated as frontal [38.9%] and the least prevalence belonged to parietal area [4.4%], while global headache was reported 27%. This study specifies the exact location of headaches at altitude in cases of AMS and non-AMS headaches. Many cases of high altitude non-AMS headache are resulted by tension and light reflection at altitude