title: Parent-child agreement in the reporting of headaches in a national sample of adolescents.
abstract: The aim of this article is to assess the concordance between parent and adolescent headache ratings in a representative sample of 6483 US adolescents (aged 13-18 years). Headaches were assessed using modified criteria from the International Headache Society's International Classification of Headache Disorders, Second Edition. Caregiver report was based on a self-administered questionnaire. Overall concordance between caregivers and adolescents on the presence or absence of headaches was quite low (κ = 0.39). Female caregivers were twice as likely as male caregivers to report headaches in their offspring. Positive endorsement of headaches in offspring by caregivers was associated with adolescent-reported chronic headaches, longer headache duration, and photophobia or phonophobia. These findings suggest that relying solely on parent report may result in an underestimate of the true prevalence of headaches in the general population. In addition, collecting information from both parents and adolescents could be critical to effective treatment and prevention of the severe consequences of migraine.
authors.affiliation: Section on Developmental Genetic Epidemiology, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA. nakamurae@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Erin F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Tarannum
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lateef
authors.forename: Karin B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Kathleen R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Merikangas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology