Tension-type headache in children: A clinical evaluation

WOS: 000182449100012PubMed ID: 12709146Background : Anxiety and psychological stress are often pre-existing factors which can trigger pediatric tension-type headaches. Methods : Sixteen children (10 girls and six boys) aged between 7 and 18 years who fulfilled the International Headache Society (IHS) criteria for episodic tension-type headache were included in the present study. Pain characteristics, associated symptoms, and stress-triggering factors were evaluated. Psychiatric and psychosocial evaluations were performed according to DSM-IV criteria. Results : Pain was bilateral in 93.7% of patients and bitemporal in 50% of children. The intensity of pain increased with motion and stress in more than half of the patients, while pain decreased with rest and massage in 43.7% of patients. Ten of the 16 (62.5%) patients were diagnosed as having a psychiatric disorder. The most common stress-triggering factors were difficulty in adaptation at school and relationship problems with family members. All of the children reported 26 stress factors. Of these stress factors, 20 (76.9%) were reported by children diagnosed with psychiatric disorder. Conclusion : These results suggest that in children with tension-type headache a thorough psychiatric evaluation should be performed to rule out underlying psychiatric disorders