Headache in young patients: Clinical characteristics of a series of 651 cases

Headache has a negative impact on health-related quality of life in young patients. We aim to analyse the characteristics of a series of young patients visiting a headache clinic and estimate the burden of different types of headaches listed by the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD).

We prospectively recruited patients aged 14 to 25 years who were treated at our clinic during a period of 6.5 years. We recorded each patient's sex, complementary test results, and previous treatment. We subsequently compared the characteristics of our sample to those of patients older than 25.

During the study period, we treated 651 patients aged 14 to 25 years; 95.6% had received symptomatic treatment, and 30.1% had received preventive treatment. A total of 755 headaches were recorded. Only 80 were secondary headaches, most of which were included in Group 8; 77.2% were included in Group 1, 3.1% in Group 2, 1.2% in Group 3, 5% in Group 4, 0.6% in Group 13, and 0.9% in Group 14. According to Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) scores, headache had at least a moderate impact on the quality of life of 449 patients.

Most headaches in young patients can be classified according to ICHD criteria. Migraine was the most frequent diagnosis in our sample. Although headache was commonly associated with a negative impact on quality of life, most patients had received little preventive treatment before being referred to our clinic.