Clinical aspects of migraine headaches in schoolchildren

Abstract

Headaches are on common phenomenon and the most frequently reported pain among children and adolescents. We tried to reveal more information on migraine headaches among schoolchildren. Sixty-two schoolchildren with migraine headaches were included in the study during the 2008-2010 period. These data are part of a wider study of headaches in children. There were 56.45% of female and 43.55% of male children with no statistically significant difference in sex representation. At the time of study completion, migraine headaches were most common in the hospital registry, accounting for 49.2% of cases, followed by 23.8% of tension headaches, 21.4% of secondary headaches, 1.6% of cluster headaches and 4% of unclassified headaches. The frequency of migraine headaches was mostly monthly (35.4%). Pain intensity on a 1-10 scale was most often 8 (27.4%); 54.9% of children rated their pain with 8, 9 and 10, but the question whether pain was debilitating was answered affirmatively by only 19.3% of study children. The leading predisposing factors were stress (40.3%) and exercise (17.7%), while 25.8% of children described a relationship between changing weather conditions and headaches. EEG findings were normal in 74.2%, nonspecific in 12.9% and borderline in 6.4% of study children. Specific epileptic discharges were found in 6.4%. MRI showed changes in 8.1% of cases. Our data suggest that migraine headaches in children are a significant problem and have important part in everyday practice of pediatric neurologist.