A considerable proportion of patients discontinue dipyridamole therapy because of headache. Risk indicators for the development of dipyridamole induced headache were identified by means of an exploratory analysis of data from the European/Australasian Stroke Prevention in Reversible Ischaemia Trial (ESPRIT) and the Second European Stroke Prevention Study (ESPS 2). In ESPRIT, dipyridamole induced headache was significantly associated with female sex, absence of hypertension and non-smoking (area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve 0.63 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.68)) and in ESPS 2 with female sex and absence of ischaemic lesions on imaging (area under the ROC curve 0.64 (95% CI 0.59 to 0.69)).

doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2008.147918, hdl.handle.net/1765/24906
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry: an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in all areas of neurology and neurosurgery
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Halkes, P., van Gijn, J., Kappelle, J., Koudstaal, P., & Algra, A. (2009). Risk indicators for development of headache during dipyridamole treatment after cerebral Ischaemia of arterial origin. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry: an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in all areas of neurology and neurosurgery, 80(4), 437–439. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2008.147918