VALENCIA, SPAIN – Pediatric migraine often has a markedly adverse effect upon school performance and psychosocial adjustment, according to a landmark series of Brazilian studies.
“This is a series of articles that has certainly changed my own practice,” Dr. Kenneth J. Mack said at the International Headache Congress.
The Brazilian investigators are following a nationally representative sample of 5,671 Brazilian 5- to 12-year-olds. They found the prevalence of episodic migraine was 9%, while 17.6% of the youths were categorized as having probable migraine, 12.8% had periodic tensiontype headaches, and 0.6% had chronic migraine as defined by migraine headaches on at least 15 days per month, a rate Dr. Mack said was disturbingly high in such a young population.
Dr. Kenneth J. Mack
In their most recent analysis, the Brazilian investigators reported that the children with episodic or chronic migraine had significantly higher rates of abnormal scores on various measures of psychosocial adjustment. They also had increased rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities (Headache 2015;55 [suppl. 1]:39-50).
Previously, the investigators reported that the children with migraine were at significantly elevated risk of impaired school performance, as assessed by their teachers as well as on standardized tests of academic competencies. The more frequent, severe, and/or longer-lasting the migraines, the poorer the school performance (Neurology 2012;79:1881-8).
“I’ve always asked about school problems, but since these studies I’ve spent much more time delving into school problems in younger kids with chronic headaches. And I’m surprised by how often they really do have school problems – how often they need extra support and help at school,” said Dr. Mack, professor of neurology and pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Another recent research focus in the field of pediatric headache has been its seasonality, which appears to be strongly tied to the school year, he added at the meeting sponsored by the International Headache Society and the American Headache Society.
One good way to look at how severe headaches are and when they occur is by examining pediatric emergency department visits. In a single-center study of 2,731 visits to a Pittsburgh pediatric emergency department by children aged 4 years and older with a chief complaint of headache, there was a clear peak incidence in September and October – the start of the school year – and a nadir in May and June, when school lets out for the summer. This applied to headaches of all types and to patients of all ages and races and to both sexes (Pediatr. Emerg. Care 2014;30:174-6).
This report was soon followed by a nationwide study of ED visits recorded in the U.S. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The investigators concluded that 5- to 18-year-olds in the United States collectively make an estimated 250,000 ED visits annually related to various types of primary headache. Indeed, headache accounted for 2.1% of all ED visits in this age group during the study years. Looking at rates on a month-by-month basis, the investigators found that ED visits for headache were highest in September (odds ratio, 1.64) and January (OR, 1.92), when children and adolescents start the academic year and return from winter break, respectively, and lowest in April (OR, 0.42) (Cephalalgia 2014;34:473-8).
In an effort to nail down the apparent link between seeking care for a headache and the school year, Dr. Mack and a coinvestigator, in a soon-to-be-published study, looked retrospectively at 103 pediatric patients diagnosed with new daily persistent headache. They focused on this particular type of headache because its onset can be traced to a particular day. Twenty-two percent of patients presented in September and another 18% in January, the school-start months. And just 1 of 103 patients presented in May or June, Dr. Mack reported.
He said he had no relevant financial conflicts.