Headache and hemodialysis: evaluation of the possible triggering factors and of the treatment

A growing number of patients have been undergoing dialysis procedures all around the world. Around 70% of the patients receiving dialysis treatment complain about headaches. In spite of this, headache is not well studied in this group of patients. The aims of this study are: to evaluate possible triggering factors related to hemodialysis headache and to evaluate the analgesic treatments used under this situation. We prospectively studied 50 patients with chronic renal failure attending to three dialysis services from the town of Ribeirão Preto, State of São Paulo, Brazil, from January 1998 to December 1999. All of them presented headaches strictly related to the hemodialysis sessions. Headache occurred mainly in the second half of the hemodialysis (86%). Arterial hypertension (38%), arterial hypotension (12%) and changes in the weight during the hemodialysis sessions (6%) were the most consistently triggering situations. In 28% of the cases no factors were identified. Dipyrone was, by far (56%), the most frequently analgesic used. Despite being so common it noteworthy how scarce are studies in literature concerning headaches in patients with chronic renal failure. These patients, besides having to bear the burden of living with a painful and boring procedure to keep them alive, many of them have the additional burden, to live with a headache in most of the sessions. The identification of possible triggering factors and further evaluations of the treatment might increase our knowledge and contribute to reduce the burden of the headaches in patients with chronic renal failure.