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Prevalence of sleep disorders in childhood and adolescence with headache: a case-control study
O Bruni1, P Fabrizi, S Ottaviano
1Department of Developmental Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy.
Insights
Children with migraine and tension-type headache experience frequent sleep disturbances. Migraine patients showed a higher prevalence of infant sleep issues and nocturnal symptoms, suggesting a potential common origin.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Sleep Medicine
- Headache Disorders
Background:
- A link between headaches and sleep issues is known in adults, but data in children is limited.
- Understanding sleep disturbances in pediatric headache patients is crucial for comprehensive care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of sleep disturbances in children diagnosed with migraine or tension-type headache.
- To compare sleep disturbance patterns between pediatric migraine and tension-type headache patients and a healthy control group.
Main Methods:
- A survey using a questionnaire on medical history, clinical data, and sleep disturbances was administered to parents of 283 children with headaches (164 migraine, 119 tension-type).
- Results were compared against a normative group of 893 healthy children matched for age and sex.
Main Results:
- Children with headaches reported high frequencies of sleep disturbances, including poor sleep quality, night awakenings, nocturnal symptoms, and daytime sleepiness.
- Migraine patients exhibited a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances during infancy and 3-month colic compared to controls.
- While no statistical difference in overall sleep disturbances was found between migraine and tension-type headache groups, the migraine group showed a trend towards more "disturbed sleep" and increased nocturnal symptoms like sleep breathing disorders and parasomnias.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric headache patients, particularly those with migraine, experience significant sleep disturbances.
- The findings suggest a potential intrinsic link or common origin between sleep disorders and headache conditions in children.
- Further research into the sleep-headache relationship in pediatric populations is warranted.
Abstract:
Although a relationship between headache and sleep disturbances has been reported in adults, only few data have been available in children. Accordingly, we performed a survey to determine the prevalence of sleep disturbances in children with migraine and tension-type headache. A questionnaire of history and clinical data and of sleep disturbances was given to parents of 283 headache subjects (164 with migraine and 119 with tension-type headache). Results were compared to a normative group comparable for age and sex of 893 normal healthy subjects. Migraine subjects showed a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances during infancy as well as 3-month colic. In both headache groups, more parents had sleep disturbances and there was a higher occurrence of co-sleeping and napping. A high frequency of sleep disturbances involving sleep quality, night awakenings, nocturnal symptoms and daytime sleepiness was reported in headache children. No statistical differences were found in the prevalence of sleep disturbances between migraine and tension-type headache. However, the migraine group tended to have "disturbed sleep" more often with increased prevalence of nocturnal symptoms such as sleep breathing disorders and parasomnias. Our results give further support to an association between sleep and migraine that may have a common intrinsic origin.