Abstract
BackgroundThough migraine and tension type headache are both commonly diagnosed in childhood, little is known about their determinants when diagnosed prior to puberty onset. Our aim was to determine psychosocial- and health-related risk factors of migraine and tension-type headache in 11 year old children.Methods871 New Zealand European children were enrolled in a longitudinal study at birth and data were collected at birth, 1, 3.5, 7, and 11 years of age. Primary headache was determined at age 11 years based on the International Headache Society. Perinatal factors assessed were small for gestational age status, sex, maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal perceived stress, and maternal school leaving age. Childhood factors assessed were sleep duration, percent body fat, television watching, parent and self-reported total problem behaviour, being bullied, and depression.ResultsPrevalence of migraine and tension-type headache was 10.5% and 18.6%, respectively. Both migraine and TTH were significantly associated with self-reported problem behaviour in univariable logistic regression analyses. Additionally, migraine was associated with reduced sleep duration, and both sleep and behaviour problems remained significant after multivariable analyses. TTH was also significantly associated with antenatal maternal smoking, higher body fat, and being bullied. For TTH, problem behaviour measured at ages 3.5 and 11 years both remained significant after multivariable analysis. Being born small for gestational age was not associated with either headache group.ConclusionsAlthough they share some commonality, migraine and tension-type headache are separate entities in childhood with different developmental characteristics. The association between primary headache and problem behaviour requires further investigation.
Highlights
Though migraine and tension type headache are both commonly diagnosed in childhood, little is known about their determinants when diagnosed prior to puberty onset
We investigated risk factors for primary headache in preadolescent children using data collected from the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative study (ABC), a longitudinal, case–control study of appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and small for gestational age (SGA) individuals born at term
10.5% were classified as experiencing migraines (n = 65) and 18.6% were classified with tension-type headache (TTH) (n = 115)
Summary
Though migraine and tension type headache are both commonly diagnosed in childhood, little is known about their determinants when diagnosed prior to puberty onset. Our aim was to determine psychosocial- and health-related risk factors of migraine and tension-type headache in 11 year old children. It has been estimated that around 6.1% to 13.6% of children suffer from migraine and 9.8% to 24.7% suffer from tension-type headache (TTH) [5,6,7,8]. Understanding factors relating to migraine and tension-type headache prior to puberty is important because environmental factors such as stress and Childhood headache disorders should be recognised as a significant health concern due to the considerable impact on the child and the family [10,11]. Migraine is considered to be more severe and disabling than TTH and involves higher rates of medication use [1]
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