Headache in junior high school students: types & characteristics in Thai children

To survey the prevalence, types, and characteristics of headache in junior high school students.

A two-stage study was conducted in seventh grade students in Bangkok, Thailand. A screening self-administered check-list questionnaire and a face-to-face interview followed by physical examination were performed. Headache was diagnosed and classified according to the Second Edition of the Classification of Headache Disorder criteria.

953 students (448 boys and 505 girls, mean-age 13.2 years) in seventh grade, participated in the present study. Eight hundred thirty three students (87.4%) reported of having five episodes of headache in the past three months. After person-to-person interview; there were 121 (12.6%), 116 (12.1%), nine (0.9%), and seven (0.7%) students who had headache attributing to rhinosinusitis/upper respiratory tract infections, migraine, nonspecific headache with upper-limit systolic blood pressure, and tension-type headache respectively. Lack of sleep and stress related to daily school-activities were reported as headache precipitator in 25 and 23 students with migraine, respectively. School absenteeism was documented in four students with migraine. Only one student received migraine prophylactic treatment.

Headache was common in Thai grade seven schoolchildren. Awareness of its high prevalence in these age-group children will lead to early identification of students who may need intervention and specific treatment.