Abstract
Although studies have suggested environmental factors to be triggers of headache, the contribution of long-term air pollution exposure to recurrent headaches is poorly understood. Hence, we executed this nationwide cohort study to investigate associations between levels of ambient air pollutants and risks of recurrent headaches in children in Taiwan from 2000 to 2012. We used data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and linked them to the Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Database. Overall, 218,008 children aged < 18 were identified from 1 January 2000, and then followed until they were diagnosed by a physician for ≥3 times with recurrent headaches or until 31 December 2012. We categorized the annual average concentration of each air pollutant (fine particulate matter, total hydrocarbon, methane, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide) into quartiles (Q1–Q4). We measured the incidence rate, hazard ratios (HRs), and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals for recurrent headaches. stratified by the quartiles. A total of 28,037 children (12.9%) were identified with recurrent headaches. The incidence rate and adjusted HR for recurrent headaches increased with higher-level exposure of air pollutants, except sulfur dioxide. We herein demonstrate that long-term ambient air pollutant exposure might be a risk factor for childhood recurrent headaches.
Highlights
Children with recurrent headaches result in great impact on their life and on their families [1,2].Migraines, characterized by recurrent headaches, are among the most common childhood headaches [1,2].childhood migraine may persist into adulthood [3]
In the interaction analyses for the risk of recurrent headaches between ambient temperature and concentration of ambient air pollutants, we found that the highest incidence rate and the highest adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were in those exposed ≥median temperature and ≥median-level of pollutants (Table 4)
Research in a Canadian population analyzed patients who visited emergency rooms for migraine between 1992 and 2002; the results showed PM2.5 to be associated with 3.3% increases in visits for migraine as well as 3.4% increases in visits for headache
Summary
Children with recurrent headaches result in great impact on their life and on their families [1,2].Migraines, characterized by recurrent headaches, are among the most common childhood headaches [1,2].childhood migraine may persist into adulthood [3]. Migraines, characterized by recurrent headaches, are among the most common childhood headaches [1,2]. The influence of environmental factors on the attacks of migraine/recurrent headaches leads to extensive debate over the past decades [4]. Determining the triggering factors of headaches is crucial to prevent the illness. Chemical exposure and specific environmental irritants are well-known triggers of headaches [4]. Air pollution is the most widespread and inevitable form of pollution, and it may contribute to serious short-term and long-term health effects [5], involving a large variety of ailments and conditions that include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, neurobehavioral disorders, lung cancer, birth defects, leukemia, premature death, Int. J. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 9140; doi:10.3390/ijerph17239140 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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