title: Impact of headache on young people in a school population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Headache is the most frequent neurological symptom and the most common manifestation of pain in childhood. Estimates of the prevalence of headache in children and adolescents vary widely (depending on the setting, methodology, and diagnostic criteria applied) and the impact is not well understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To quantify the impact of headache in a school population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Exeter schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1037 school children between the ages of 12 and 15 years were surveyed, of whom 49% were female. Main outcome measures were headache frequency, disease-specific impact using the Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment Score (PedMIDAS), and generic quality of life impact using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL4).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty per cent of the study population had headache one or more times a week, with an average PedMIDAS score of over 12.1 (and an impact on over 12 days in a 3-month period). Ten per cent of the population had a PedMIDAS score of 16.8 and a PedsQL4 generic quality of life score of 70.1, indicating a poorer quality of life than that of children with asthma, diabetes, or cancer. An average of 0.6 days of school was lost in a 3-month period across all school children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a significant impact of headache on the quality of life of children. This impact is both unrecognised and unmet. GPs have an important role in identification and management of this problem.
authors.affiliation: Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter. su1838@eclipse.co.uk
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kernick
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reinhold
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012574:Schools; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
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