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The comorbidity of headaches in pediatric epilepsy patients: How common and what types?
Hanin Al-Gethami1, Muhammad T Alrifai, Ahmed AlRumayyan
1Neuro-science Center, King Fahd Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Headache, particularly migraine, is common in children with epilepsy. Valproic acid may help prevent migraines in these pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Pediatrics
- Epilepsy Research
Background:
- Headache is a frequent comorbidity in children with epilepsy.
- Understanding the prevalence and types of headaches in this population is crucial for effective management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence and characteristics of headaches in pediatric patients diagnosed with epilepsy.
- To compare headache occurrence in epileptic children versus a control group.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study was conducted over six months at a specialized children's hospital.
- Structured questionnaires were administered to 142 pediatric epilepsy patients and a control group.
Main Results:
- Headaches were reported in 45.7% of pediatric epilepsy patients, significantly higher than the 2% in the control group (p<0.0001).
- Migraine-type headaches were most common (44.6%), followed by tension-type (18.4%) and unclassified headaches (36.9%).
- Lower migraine prevalence was observed in patients treated with valproic acid compared to other antiepileptic drugs.
Conclusions:
- Headache, predominantly migraine, is a significant issue in pediatric epilepsy.
- Valproic acid may play a role in preventing migraines in children with epilepsy.
Objective:
To estimate the prevalence and characteristics of headache in pediatric epileptic patients.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was performed over 6 months period from January 2018 to June 2018 at King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a structured questionnaire in pediatric patients with epilepsy.
Results:
There were 142 patients enrolled (males, 57.7%; average age, 10.7+/-3.1 years) with idiopathic epilepsy (n=115, 81%) or symptomatic epilepsy (n=27, 19%). Additionally, patients had focal epilepsy (n=102, 72%) or generalized epilepsy (n=40, 28%), and among them, 11 had absence epilepsy. Overall, 65 (45.7%) patients had headaches compared with 3/153 (2%) in the control group (p<0.0001). Among the 65 patients with headaches, 29 (44.6%) had migraine-type, 12 (18.4%) had tension-type, and 24 (36.9%) had unclassified headache. There was no significant difference in age, gender, type of epilepsy syndrome, and antiepileptic used except in patients with or without headache. For migraine patients, there was a lower headache prevalence in the subgroup treated with valproic acid compared with other treatments.
Conclusion:
Headache, predominantly migraine, is a common problem in pediatric epileptic patients and choosing valproic acid when possible can be important in preventing migraine in these patients.
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