title: Applicability of the 1988 IHS criteria to headache patients under the age of 18 years attending 21 Italian headache clinics. Juvenile Headache Collaborative Study Group.
abstract: Seven hundred nineteen young patients attending 21 Italian headache care settings were evaluated by a diagnostic headache interview and a neurological examination. Headache disorders were classified according to the current 1988 criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS); 54.9% of the patients suffered from migraine, 33.9% from tension-type headache, 1.9% from secondary headache, and 3.4% had non-classifiable headache. A further 5.9% of the patients were not classified due to incomplete questionnaires. Of the 395 patients with migraine, 44.5% were affected by migraine without aura, 29.9% by migraine with aura, 1.3% from other migraine forms, and 24.3% by migrainous disorders which do not fulfill the 1988 IHS diagnostic criteria for headache. Among the 244 patients with tension-type headache, 51.6% had episodic tension-type headache, 15.2% chronic tension-type headache, and 33.2% headache of the tension-type which does not fulfill the 1988 IHS criteria for episodic and chronic tension-type headache. In young migraine patients, pain was of a pulsating type in 55.7%, severe in 57.8%, unilateral in 42.6%, and aggravated by routine physical activity in 38.9%. Tension-type headache was described as pressing in 73.8%, mild or moderate in 75.7%, bilateral in 87.4%, and not aggravated by routine physical activity in 85.5%. The duration of pain was less than 2 hours in 35% of the cases in migraine sufferers and less than 30 minutes in 26.7% of tension-type headache sufferers. Nausea, phonophobia, and photophobia were present in at least half of the migraine patients and in one third of tension-type headache patients, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Interuniversity Center for the Study of Headache and Neurotransmitter Disorders, University of Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gallai
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarchielli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carboni
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mastropaolo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Puca
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D010147:Pain Measurement; D015995:Prevalence; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy