A Historical Review of Headaches: Who First Described Them and When did This Occur?

Abstract

Background: Headache is as old as human history and has been able to report, and the first descriptions were found in Greece and Mesopotamia.

Objective: Our objective was to know the date of the first description of ICHD-3 headaches, with their respective author.

Methods: We searched for articles that addressed the historical aspects of primary and secondary headaches and painful cranial neuropathies.

Results: Twenty-seven different headaches were analyzed according to the occurrence of their first description, with the respective author and country of origin.

Conclusions: The knowledge of the first description of ICHD-3 headaches, with their respective author, showed us how and when the different headaches appeared over the years.

Keywords: first description; headache disorders; historical aspects.