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Migraines, mental health impaired school performance

Children with migraines were at increased risk for poor school performance, researchers reported. School performance was also influenced by other factors, including the severity and duration of the migraines and abnormal mental health scores.

“Clinicians and health authorities should have in mind the burden of migraine on children’s lives,” study researcher Marco A. Arruda, MD,told Healio.com. “The clinicians attending a child with chronic headaches should seek information on behavior and emotional symptoms, school performance and quality of life in order to properly treat this child. The health authorities should analyze the viability to develop specific public health programs focused on children with chronic headaches.”

 

Marco A. Arruda

Arruda, of the Glia Institute in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, and Marcelo E. Bigal, MD, PhD, a fellow neurologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, collected data on 5,671 children aged 5 to 12 years from 87 cities across Brazil. Teachers (n=124) were first asked to identify attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms in their students using a validated questionnaire based on DSM-IV criteria. They also assessed students’ academic performance. Parents were asked to participate in the study as well, reporting on the duration and severity of their children’s migraines and on behavioral issues such as hyperactivity, inattention, emotional symptoms, peer problems and conduct problems.

Arruda and Bigal also accounted for the different migraine subtypes, including episodic, probable and chronic migraines.

Results showed that episodic migraines occurred in 9% of children, probable migraines in 17.6% and chronic migraines in 0.6%. Poor school performance was significantly more likely in children with episodic and chronic migraines vs. children without migraines. School performance was significantly influenced by the severity (P<.001) and duration (P<.001) of the migraines, abnormal mental health scores (P<.001) and nausea (P<.001). The frequency of migraines, use of analgesics and gender also affected school performance.

“Approximately one-fourth of the preadolescent population has headaches with migraine features,” the researchers wrote. “As in adults, the burden is disproportionally distributed, mainly affecting those with frequent, long-lasting and severe attacks.”

Disclosure: Bigal is a full-time employee of Merck. Arruda reports no relevant financial disclosures.