Increasing and disparate use of neuroimaging for adults and children with non-traumatic headaches in the US emergency departments: Opportunities for improvement.

Neuroimaging utilization in patients with headache in US EDs nearly doubled in 2006-2014, and was used in 34.8% of all ED encounters in 2014. Utilization was higher and increased at faster rates for adults than children. In US EDs, imaging for headache is preferentially performed on commercially insured and male patients, at urban hospitals, in certain geographic regions, and on weekdays, raising concerns regarding disparate imaging use.