Chronic Daily Headache

Introduction

While most headaches are episodic in nature, some headaches evolve into a chronic headache syndrome. It is estimated that more than 4% of the adults in the US have chronic daily headache (CDH).⁸⁰ The majority of these persistent daily headaches are either migraine or tension-type headaches. The basis for the transformation of episodic headaches into their chronic versions is not well understood. A detailed discussion of the diagnosis and management of primary headache syndromes can be found in other sources.^81,82 The following discussion will briefly review the challenges of treating patients with CDH.