OBJECTIVES: Headache disorders are among the most common disorders of the nervous system. It imposes significant burden of pain, poor quality of life and financial burden, which affect both the personal health as well as the health care system. To estimate the prevalence of headache and its associated factors among patients visiting tertiary care settings in India.  METHODS: This was a prospective observational study carried out at medicine OPD, HAH Centenary Hospital, Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi. Study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi (JHIRB No. 23/11) Study duration was of four months during the period of January 2012 to April 2012. Patients were selected based on pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. IBM SPSS windows statistical software version 20 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Data were presented in descriptive statistics (numbers, percentages). RESULTS: A total of 63 patients were diagnosed with headache, which visited medicine OPD, during the study period. We found three times higher prevalence in male as compared to female (3:1). Among these patients approximately half of the population (49%) were categorised as migraine type  headache, one quarter patients (25%) categorised as tension type headache, and the remaining were mixed type headache i.e. migraine with tension. Tension was observed to be the most prevalent triggering factor in all types of patients. Family history was observed in 39 patients (61.90%) of chronic headache. Depression as co-morbidity was observed in few patient. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic headache is highly prevalent among patients visiting tertiary care settings in India, but is usually undiagnosed. Large scale epidemiological studies on headache in Indian population are lacking so a nationwide study on chronic headache is a need of hour, so that the disability caused due to headache can be assessed and policy can be made to reduce the burden.