Headaches and Hormones

It is clear that hormones play an important role in modulating and exacerbating headaches. From an epidemiologic standpoint, we know that before puberty, incidence of new headache is similar for boys and girls. By age 18, however, most new cases of migraine occur in young women. The role of sex hormones in headache is described in the context of pubertal development. Obesity and Pseudotumor also impact headache through hormonal influences. Menstrual migraine will often present in the teenage years. Oral contraceptives may worsen or ameliorate headache. This article will introduce these concepts and help the reader become familiar with the role of hormones in headache.