Association of headache with childhood adversity and mental disorder: cross-national study

Community studies about the association of headache with both childhood family adversities and depression/anxiety disorders are limited.

To assess the independent and joint associations of childhood family adversities and early-onset depression and anxiety disorders with risks of adult-onset headache.

Data were pooled from cross-sectional community surveys conducted in ten Latin and North American, European and Asian countries (n=18 303) by using standardised instruments. Headache and a range of childhood family adversities were assessed by self-report.

The number of childhood family adversities was associated with adult-onset headache after adjusting for gender, age, country and early-onset depression/anxiety disorder status (for one adversity, hazard ratio (HR)=1.22-1.6; for two adversities, HR=1.19-1.67; for three or more adversities, HR=1.37-1.95). Early and current onset of depression/anxiety disorders were independently associated (HR=1.42-1.89) with adult-onset headache after controlling for number of childhood family adversities.

The findings call for a broad developmental perspective concerning risk factors for development of headache.