text: Headache as an acute and post COVID 19 symptom in COVID 19 survivors A meta analysis of the current literature Headache is identified as a common post COVID sequela experienced by COVID 19 survivors The aim of this pooled analysis was to synthesize the prevalence of post COVID headache in hospitalized and non hospitalized patients recovering from SARS CoV 2 infection MEDLINE CINAHL PubMed EMBASE and Web of Science databases as well as medRxiv and bioRxiv preprint servers were searched up to 31 May 2021 Studies or preprints providing data on post COVID headache were included The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale Random effects models were used for meta analytical pooled prevalence of post COVID headache Data synthesis was categorized at hospital admission symptoms onset and at 30 60 90 and 180 days afterwards From 9573 studies identified 28 peer reviewed studies and 7 preprints were included The sample was 28 438 COVID 19 survivors 12 307 females mean age 46 6 SD 17 45 years The methodological quality was high in 45 of the studies The overall prevalence of post COVID headache was 47 1 95 CI 35 8 58 6 at onset or hospital admission 10 2 95 CI 5 4 18 5 at 30 days 16 5 95 CI 5 6 39 7 at 60 days 10 6 95 CI 4 7 22 3 at 90 days and 8 4 95 CI 4 6 14 8 at 180 days after onset hospital discharge Headache as a symptom at the acute phase was more prevalent in non hospitalized 57 97 than in hospitalized 31 11 patients Time trend analysis showed a decreased prevalence from the acute symptoms onset to all post COVID follow up periods which was maintained afterwards This meta analysis found that the prevalence of post COVID headache ranged from 8 to 15 during the first 6 months after SARS CoV 2 infection 