Association of headache with childhood adversity and mental disorder: cross-national study.
BACKGROUND
Community studies about the association of headache with both childhood family adversities and depression/anxiety disorders are limited.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the independent and joint associations of childhood family adversities and early-onset depression and anxiety disorders with risks of adult-onset headache.


METHODS
Data were pooled from cross-sectional community surveys conducted in ten Latin and North American, European and Asian countries (n=18 303) by using standardised instruments. Headache and a range of childhood family adversities were assessed by self-report.


RESULTS
The number of childhood family adversities was associated with adult-onset headache after adjusting for gender, age, country and early-onset depression/anxiety disorder status (for one adversity, hazard ratio (HR)=1.22-1.6; for two adversities, HR=1.19-1.67; for three or more adversities, HR=1.37-1.95). Early and current onset of depression/anxiety disorders were independently associated (HR=1.42-1.89) with adult-onset headache after controlling for number of childhood family adversities.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings call for a broad developmental perspective concerning risk factors for development of headache.
Lee
Sing
S
Hong Kong Mood Disorders Center, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Tsang
Adley
A
Von Korff
Michael
M
de Graaf
Ron
R
Benjet
Corina
C
Haro
Josep Maria
JM
Angermeyer
Matthias
M
Demyttenaere
Koen
K
de Girolamo
Giovanni
G
Gasquet
Isabelle
I
Merikangas
Kathleen
K
Posada-Villa
José
J
Takeshima
Tadashi
T
Kessler
Ronald C
RC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult