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. 2009 May;24(5):536-43.
doi: 10.1177/0883073808327831.

Headache in a national sample of American children: prevalence and comorbidity

Tarannum M Lateef  1 , Kathleen R Merikangas, Jianping He, Amanda Kalaydjian, Suzan Khoromi, Erin Knight, Karin B Nelson
Affiliations

Headache in a national sample of American children: prevalence and comorbidity

Tarannum M Lateef et al. J Child Neurol. 2009 May.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, sociodemographic correlates, and comorbidity of recurrent headache in children in the United States. Participants were individuals aged 4 to 18 years (n = 10,198) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Data on recurrent and other health conditions were analyzed. Frequent or severe headaches including migraine in the past 12 months were reported in 17.1% of children. Asthma, hay fever, and frequent ear infections were more common in children with headache, with at least 1 of these occurring in 41.6% of children with headache versus 25.0% of children free of headache. Other medical problems associated with childhood headaches include anemia, overweight, abdominal illnesses, and early menarche. Recurrent headache in childhood is common and has significant medical comorbidity. Further research is needed to understand biologic mechanisms and identify more homogeneous subgroups in clinical and genetic studies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose with regard to this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The effect of puberty on headache prevalence among males and females.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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