Comorbidity between headaches with a range of physical conditions that have been associated with adult migraine demonstrates that multimorbidity occurs early in development. This according to a recent study that examined the associations between headaches and migraine with physical and mental disorders in a large pediatric registry. The study included 9,329 youth aged 8-21 years from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Physical conditions, including headache, were ascertained from electronic medical records and in-person interviews. Modified International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-II) criteria were used to classify migraine symptoms. Forty-two other physical conditions were classified into 14 classes of medical disorders. Researchers found:
- Lifetime prevalence of any headache was 45.5%, and of migraine was 22.6%.
- Any headache was associated with a broad range of physical disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (odds ratio [OR] 1.2), and behavior disorders (1.3).
- Youth with migraine had greater odds of specific physical conditions and mental disorders, including respiratory, neurologic/central nervous system, developmental, anxiety, behavior, and mood disorders than those with non-migraine headache (OR ranged from 1.3 to 1.9).
Lateef T, He J-P, Nelson K, et al. Physical–mental comorbidity of pediatric migraine in the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. [Published online ahead of print October 29, 2018]. J Pediatr . doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.033.