[Is there an association between the reduced school years in grammar schools and headache and other health complaints in adolescent students?].
BACKGROUND
The reduction of school years in grammar schools from 9 to 8 years (G9 vs. G8) is supposed to exhibit increased impairments of health of the latter group of students. Aim of the present study was to investigate whether G8-students are exposed to more stress and report more headaches and other health complaints than G9-students.


METHODS
1 260 formers of grammar schools in Munich (10 (th) vs. 11 (th) form).


METHODS
In a survey, the frequency of headache and other health complaints, experience of chronic stress and health-related quality of life were assessed with a questionnaire and compared between the two groups of different grammar-school durations (G8 vs. G9).


RESULTS
83.1% of all formers reported to suffer from headache at least once per month. Further frequently reported health complaints were back pain (47.7%), excessive need for sleep (45.6%) and pain in neck or shoulder (45.0%). 20.4% of the formers reported high exposure to stress. The greatest reductions in quality of life were found with respect to school-related and physical wellbeing. As the only significant differences, formers of G8 reported fewer daily leisure time and that available leisure time was not sufficient for recreation.


CONCLUSIONS
The high prevalence of pain, health complaints and stress indicates high demands to all grammar scholars. High demands due to the reduction of school years in grammar school, however, are not reflected in increased health impairments in these formers, but rather in limited leisure time activities.
Milde-Busch
A
A
Institut für Soziale Pädiatrie und Jugendmedizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Heiglhofstrasse 63, Munich, Germany. Astrid.Milde-Busch@med.uni-muenchen.de
Blaschek
A
A
Borggräfe
I
I
von Kries
R
R
Straube
A
A
Heinen
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011998:Recreation / Q000523:psychology; D012574:Schools; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult