Children with chronic headache and migraine who are severely functionally impaired demonstrated linear improvement in pain‐specific patient‐reported outcomes over time, according to a recent study that aimed to evaluate the trajectory of recovery for children undergoing intensive interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation treatment (IIPT). A retrospective analysis was conducted of patient‐reported outcomes in a clinical database of 135 children (mean age 15.2 [SD=2.2] and 74% female) admitted to an IIPT program between the years 2008 and 2014. Available data across 5 separate time points (up to 1‐year post‐discharge) were reviewed. Researchers found:
- A statistically significant improvement was noted in pain‐specific measures of functioning, including daily functioning, emotional functioning, family functioning, and school absences over a 12‐month period.
- A more general measure of quality of life improved during the program, based upon child and parent reports, although these gains did not continue to improve post‐discharge.
- As expected, although children did not report a reduction in pain during rehabilitation, they did report a significant drop in perceived pain in the 12 months following discharge from the program.
Benore E, Webster EE, Wang L, Banez G. Longitudinal analysis of patient‐reported outcomes from an interdisciplinary pediatric pain rehabilitation program for children with chronic migraine and headache. [Published online ahead of print August 23, 2018]. Headache. doi:10.1111/head.13389.