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Characteristics of headache in children with epilepsy

Hideaki Kanemura1, Fumikazu Sano, Sayaka Ishii

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Japan. ykimu@yamanashi.ac.jp

Seizure
|May 25, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Headache is common in children with epilepsy, particularly those with partial seizures and more frequent seizure attacks. Frontal headaches were most reported, though not always linked to the seizure

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Pediatric Epilepsy
  • Headache Disorders

Background:

  • Headache associated with seizures is a recognized but poorly understood phenomenon.
  • Epilepsy affects children and adults, with varying seizure types and presentations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of seizure-associated headaches in pediatric epilepsy patients.
  • To identify risk factors for these headaches, focusing on seizure classification and epileptogenic focus.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective study involving 98 pediatric epilepsy patients (ages 5-18) on active treatment.
  • Patients were interviewed via questionnaire regarding seizure-associated headaches.

Main Results:

  • 34.7% of patients reported seizure-associated headaches.
  • Headaches were significantly more frequent in partial seizures (41.9%) than generalized seizures (12.5%).
  • Patients with seizure-associated headaches experienced more frequent seizures (4.1/year vs. 1.3/year).

Conclusions:

  • Headache is more common in pediatric partial epilepsy and with frequent seizures.
  • Headache location did not consistently correlate with electroencephalographic focus.
  • Findings highlight the need for further understanding of seizure-headache links in epilepsy.
Abstract

Keywords:
ChildrenEpilepsyFrequent seizuresHeadachePartial seizure

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