Abstract

Introduction: headache is a common complain of patients in eye OPD. Headache may be caused by various ophthalmic and non ophthalmic causes. Detail history taking and comprehensive clinical examination is required to make proper diagnosis of headache.

Objective: The aim of the study is to clinically evaluate the ophthalmic cause of headache in patients attending eye OPD with chief complain of headache.

Material and Method: A prospective study of 568 cases of headache attending eye OPD was done. Ophthalmological examination including refraction under appropriate

cycloplegia, strabismus evaluation, anterior segment examination on Slit lamp, direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy, intraocular pressure measurement and examination of adnexa  was done. cases in which no ophthalmological cause of headache was found were refer to other departments as suggested by history and associated complain.

Results: Out of 568 cases, in 177 cases ophthalmic causes of headache were found. Headache incidence were more in females( 59.3%) cases than males(40.7%).headache was found to be more prevalent in 10-30 years age group (54%).refractive erros (59.8%) was most common cause of ophthalmic headache followed by presbyopia (11.8%),muscular imbalance (7.9%),computer vision syndrome(6.25%),glaucoma(3.3%)lid inflammation (2.8%), uveitis (2.8%) and keratitis (1.6%).Astigmatism(44.3%) and Hypermetropia (33.0%) were most common refrective errors causing headache.

Conclusion: Most common causes of ophthalmic headache are refractive errors, presbyopia, muscle imbalance, coputer vision syndrome and anterior segment pathology.

Keywords: Headache, refractive error, presbyopia, computer vision syndrome, glaucaoma, uveitis.