Primary Headaches and Sleep Disorders: Review of Literature about Comorbidity in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Sleep disorders and primary headaches are frequent health problems in childhood, and they are often comorbid in an individual, linked by a mutual and complex relationship. This comorbidity is frequent and well documented, but the available literature is usually biased in favor of one aspect or another, mainly depending on the expertise of the authors. The aim of this article is to review existing literature on the comorbidity between primary headaches and sleep disorders in pediatric age and summarize the heterogeneous results. Our findings, involving a total of 12 studies and 16.474 subjects aged 2–18 years, indicate a bidirectional and strong relationship between headache and sleep disorders in childhood, with multiple associations between headache features and sleep disturbances. This can be explained by many common pathophysiologic pathways. Improving sleep quality could help to reduce migraine intensity and disability and vice versa.