Hope for children with chronic headache

For children suffering from chronic daily headache there may be light at the end of the tunnel, as a new research suggests that most will out grow them.

In the study, scientists tracked 122 Taiwanese school children aged 12 to 14 who suffered from chronic daily headaches. All volunteers experienced headaches on 15 or more days every month, with each headache lasting for two or more hours.

After one year, the scientists found that 60% of the children no longer suffered from daily headaches. This figure increased to 75% after two years. And after eight years, only 12% of 103 children remaining in the study still had chronic headaches. However 75% still had migraines or probable migraines.

"Our results suggest there is hope for children who experience these headaches and for their parents, who also deal with the frustration and considerable disability that this condition can bring,” said Dr. Shuu-Jiun Wang from the Taipei Veterans Hospital, who led the study. “Over time, most of these children get better, eventually having less frequent migraine headaches as young adults," he added.

Although the frequency of chronic daily headaches may improve as the children grow older, parents and children need to be prepared for the possibility that they may never fully go away, said Dr. Wang.

The study also found that risk factors for chronic daily headaches included having headaches before the age of 13, having a history of migraine, overuse of pain medication, and those who lived with the condition for more than two years.

In the UK, about 3% of adults suffer from chronic headache. One in six people have had them before the age of ten.

For more information see:

www.migraine4kids.co.uk

This article was published on Thu 16 July 2009