Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of headache in adolescents and its association with excessive use of electronic devices and games. The sample comprised 954 adolescents of both sexes (14 to 19 years) who answered a questionnaire about use of computers and electronic games, presence of headache and physical activity. The binary and multinomial logistic regression, with significance level of 5% was used for inferential analysis. The prevalence of headache was 80.6%. The excessive use of electronics devices proved to be a risk factor (OR = 1.21) for headache. Subjects aged between 14 and 16 years were less likely to report headache (OR = 0.64). Regarding classification, 17.9% of adolescents had tension-type headache, 19.3% had migraine and 43.4% other types of headache. The adolescents aged form 14 to 16 years had lower chance (OR ≤ 0.68) to report the tension-type headache and other types of headache. The excessive use of digital equipment, electronic games and attending the third year of high school proved to be risk factors for migraine-type development (OR ≥ 1.84). There was a high prevalence of headache in adolescents and high-time use of electronic devices. We observed an association between excessive use of electronic devices and the presence of headache, and this habit is considered a risk factor, especially for the development of migraine-type.
Highlights
Activities related to work, education and leisure are changing due to the insertion of electronic devices into human life and society
The results showed that 80.6% of students from state public high schools in Recife reported the presence of headache
In analyzing the different types of headache, the results revealed that the excessive use of electronic games was associated with the presence of migraine-type headache, and is considered a risk factor that increases the chance of this affliction in teenagers by about two times
Summary
Activities related to work, education and leisure are changing due to the insertion of electronic devices into human life and society This process is affecting all age groups, including teenagers, who are increasing their use of these devices[1,2]. In many state public schools, laptops have been distributed to teachers and students in an effort to enhance quality of education and the process of digital inclusion. This project has been implemented in various countries around the world, including Brazil, where it is entitled Um Computador por Aluno [One Laptop per Student]. Pernambuco, in the northeast, was the first Brazilian state to adopt this policy and implement the program[4]
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