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. 2025 May 28;51(1):161.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-025-01976-y.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with headache and/or dizziness and hemodynamic responses to head-up tilt test

Runmei Zou  1 , Shuo Wang  2 , Fang Li  1 , Ping Liu  1 , Donglei Liao  2 , Liqun Liu  3 , Jing Liu  4 , Hong Cai  1 , Yuwen Wang  1 , Cheng Wang  5
Affiliations

Demographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with headache and/or dizziness and hemodynamic responses to head-up tilt test

Runmei Zou et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Headache and dizziness are common symptoms in children and adolescents, but the causes of headache/dizziness in most pediatric patients are not clearly defined. We intended to investigate the demographic and clinical features of pediatric patients with headache and/or dizziness and responses to head-up tilt test (HUTT).

Methods: The demographic data and medical records of children and adolescents, with a primary complaint of headache and/or dizziness and undergoing HUTT between January 2001 and June 2023, were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Children and adolescents with headache and/or dizziness secondary to fever, trauma, or other obvious etiology were excluded. For those with positive responses to HUTT, the symptom score and HUTT responses were collected after treatment at follow-up.

Results: Among 2709 patients with unexplained headache and/or dizziness, 1080 (39.87%) cases presented positive responses to HUTT, whereas 1629 (60.13%) cases had negative responses. Among patients with positive responses, 930 (34.33%) cases presented a response of vasovagal syncope, 143 (5.28%) cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and 7 (0.26%) cases of orthostatic hypertension. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that females, older age, and low body mass index percentile increased the risk of being positive responses. At follow-up, HUTT results of 236 patients were collected, among which 131 (55.51%) cases turned negative HUTT responses and had headache/dizziness symptoms improved after treatment targeted autonomic dysfunction.

Conclusion: HUTT can be applied to evaluate the autonomic function of children and adolescents with headache and/or dizziness and assess the treatment responses in those patients with autonomic dysfunction.

Keywords: Autonomic function; Children; Dizziness; Head-up Tilt test; Headache.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University [Ethical Audit No. Study 012(2014)]. All participants or their responsible guardians were asked for and gave their written consent after being informed about the nature of the study. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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