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Social environment and headache in 8- to 9-year-old children: a follow-up study
L Metsähonkala1, M Sillanpää, J Tuominen
1Department of Child Neurology, Turku University, Finland.
Insights
Migraine and non-migrainous headache affect over 30% of children by age 9. School bullying and stress are associated with childhood headaches, particularly in girls with migraine.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Headache disorders are common in childhood.
- Migraine prevalence and associated factors require further investigation in pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of migraine and non-migrainous headache in 8- to 9-year-old children.
- To identify psychosocial factors associated with childhood headache.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal cohort study followed 3580 children from birth.
- Headache data at ages 8-9 were collected via postal questionnaires.
Main Results:
- Prevalence: 2.7% migraine, 27.3% non-migrainous headache.
- Early onset: 34% of migraineurs had headaches at age 5.
- Associated factors: Bullying, school stress, and peer relationship problems were more common in children with headache, especially in girls with migraine.
Conclusions:
- Childhood headaches, including migraine, are prevalent and linked to psychosocial stressors.
- Early identification of headache and associated factors is crucial for intervention.
Abstract:
We studied the occurrence of migraine and nonmigrainous headache and the factors associated with headache in a group of 3580 children. These children belong to a 1-year age cohort which has been followed since birth. When the children were 8 to 9 years old, data on their headaches were gathered through a postal questionnaire. Ninety-five of the children (2.7%) had migraine and 977 (27.3%) reported non-migrainous headache at the age of 8 to 9 years. Thirty-four percent of the children with migraine had already had headache at the age of 5 years. Children with migraine and children with nonmigrainous headache both reported more often being bullied in school, stress in school, and problems in getting along with other children than children without headache. The association of stress in school with headache was strongest in girls with migraine, even though they reported the least difficulties in school subjects. As many as one third of the boys with migraine reported that they had problems with peer relationships.