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Sleep, sleepiness, and behavior problems in children with headache

Cendrine Bursztein1, Tamar Steinberg, Avi Sadeh

  • 1Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Journal of Child Neurology
|December 13, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Children with headaches experience poorer sleep and more daytime sleepiness. Gender influences the headache-sleep link, with girls showing worse sleep quality compared to control girls, while boys show the opposite.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Child Psychology

Background:

  • Headaches are common in children and can impact their well-being.
  • Sleep disturbances and behavioral issues are frequently observed in children with chronic health conditions.
  • The interplay between headaches, sleep, and behavior in pediatric populations warrants further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate sleep patterns, daytime sleepiness, and behavioral problems in children with headaches.
  • To compare these factors between children with persistent headaches and healthy controls.
  • To examine the moderating role of gender in the relationship between headaches, sleep, and behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized actigraphy and sleep diaries to objectively and subjectively assess sleep in 28 children with headaches and 108 controls.
  • Employed parental reports to evaluate behavior problems in both groups.
  • Conducted comparative analyses to identify differences between the clinical and control groups, and explored gender-specific effects.

Main Results:

  • Children with headaches exhibited significantly poorer sleep quality and increased daytime sleepiness compared to controls.
  • Headache sufferers reported higher levels of internalizing behavior problems.
  • Gender moderated the headache-sleep relationship: headache-suffering girls had worse sleep than control girls, whereas headache-suffering boys had better sleep than control boys.

Conclusions:

  • Sleep assessment, evaluation of daytime sleepiness, and psychological adjustment are crucial components in the routine care of children with headaches.
  • Gender plays a significant role in how headaches affect sleep in children.
  • Addressing sleep and behavioral issues may be vital for comprehensive headache management in pediatric patients.

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