PITTSBURGH, June 22 (UPI) -- A University of Pittsburgh study suggests athletes with migraine headache characteristics after a concussion may have increased neurocognitive impairment.
The study, by the university's Sports Medicine Concussion Program and published in the May issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery, said caution is needed in clinical evaluation and return-to-play decisions.
The authors said athletes who experienced post-traumatic migraine, or PTM, headaches after a concussion also showed increased neurocognitive function impairment and related symptoms, compared to concussed athletes with no post-injury headache or non-migraine headache.
"The findings of our study strongly support the need for clinicians to exercise increased vigilance in making decisions about managing a concussed athlete with PTM and extreme caution as to when that athlete should be allowed to return to play," said lead author Jason Mihalik.
"This research is important because headache is the most common reported symptom after a sports-related head injury. As many as 86 percent of these injuries are accompanied by some type of headache," commented study co-author Joseph Maroon.
