title: Vomiting after mild head injury is related to migraine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether vomiting after mild head injury in children is related to migraine and to identify predictors of vomiting after head injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  A series of consecutive children admitted to the observation unit of an emergency department after mild head injury was identified by chart review. A telephone interview with the parents or child or both was then conducted by using a structured questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 47 eligible children with acute head injury, 44 (94%) were contacted. The mean age at head injury was 7.4 years. Twenty-nine children (66%) vomited after the head injury. The likelihood of vomiting was increased if the child had a history of recurrent headache (p = 0.05). If the headaches were migrainous, the likelihood of vomiting increased further (p <0.002). All 15 children with a history of motion sickness vomited after the head injury. Family history of migraine, particularly maternal (n = 21), also predicted recurrent vomiting (p <0.001). If more than one of these predictive variables was present, the likelihood of vomiting was 100%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  History of motion sickness, migraine headaches, and family history of migraine are highly predictive of vomiting after a mild head injury.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, IWK-Grace Health Centre and Dalhousie University Medical School, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Camfield
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Camfield
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics; D009041:Motion Sickness / Q000150:complications; D012307:Risk Factors; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology*