Abhishek Sinha et al JMSCR Volume 09 Issue 05 May 2021 Page 153 JMSCR Vol||09||Issue||05||Page 153-158||May 2021 Physiological basis and Mechanism of Headache: Recent advances Authors Abhishek Sinha 1* , Renu Bhatia 2 1 Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Guwahati, India 2 Additional Professor, Department of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India *Corresponding Author Abhishek Sinha Abstract Headache is a very common complaint for which a patient reports to the physician. It can cause discomfort in some patients whereas it can be a harbinger of some serious medical conditions in others. In our earlier review on headache published in the same journal, we had discussed some of the well established physiological basis and mechanisms behind different types of headaches. The aim of this review is to unravel some of the recent advances in the knowledge of the mechanisms of the various types of headache and also discuss about two lesser discussed types of headaches experienced by general population. Keywords: Headache, Migraine, Tension type Headache, Cluster headache, Pathophysiological mechanisms, Primary Exercise Headache, Menstrual Related Headache, Recent advances. Introduction Headache is one of the most commonly reported medical symptom by the general population. It is an example of a medical condition which crosses national boundaries and all grades of socioeconomic strata in the population 2 . By its etiology, it can be caused due to a simple conditions such as stress of day-today life to more serious life threatening conditions such as subarachnoid haemorrhage 1 . The knowledge regarding the physiological basis and the mechanisms responsible for the different types of headache has improved drastically in the recent times and new mechanisms and factors responsible for the various types of headache are being unravelled every day. Headache is a cause of enormous burden to the productivity of the society and the economy 3 . According to the World Health Organization, globally the prevalence of headache among adults is about 50% 2 . Almost 75% of adults of age group 18 to 65 years across the world have reported complaints of headache in the previous year 2 . The average prevalence of migraine is 18% across the lifetime, with its prevalence in children and adolescents being almost 7.7% 3 . The lifetime Prevalence of Tension type headache is about 52% and it is the most common type of headache reported 3 . In a community based study conducted in eastern India among subjects from the population aged between 20 to 50 years, it was estimated that the prevalence of migraine was 14.12% with the most susceptible age group being women aged 30 to 34 years 4 . Another study found a one year prevalence of 62% for primary headache in southern India 5 . As reported in our http://jmscr.igmpublication.org/home/ ISSN (e)-2347-176x ISSN (p) 2455-0450 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v9i5.28