title: Adolescents' medicine use for headache: secular trends in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study reports secular trends in medicine use for headache among adolescents in 20 countries from 1986 to 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  The international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey includes self-reported data about medicine use for headaches among nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds. We included 20 countries with data from at least three data collection waves, with a total of 380 129 participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of medicine use for headaches varied from 16.5% among Hungarian boys in 1994 to 62.9% among girls in Wales in 1998. The prevalence was higher among girls than boys in every country and data collection year. The prevalence of medicine use for headaches increased in 12 of 20 countries, most notably in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Wales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of medicine use for headaches among adolescents is high and increasing in many countries. As some medicines are toxic this may constitute a public health problem.
authors: 1 University of Southern Denmark, National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen, Denmark bho@niph.dk.
authors: Bjørn E
authors: BE
authors: Holstein
authors: 1 University of Southern Denmark, National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Anette
authors: A
authors: Andersen
authors: 2 University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece.
authors: Anastasios
authors: A
authors: Fotiou
authors: 3 Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
authors: Inese
authors: I
authors: Gobina
authors: 4 French Institute of Health and Medical Research, Paris, France.
authors: Emmanuelle
authors: E
authors: Godeau
authors: 5 Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Ebba
authors: E
authors: Holme Hansen
authors: 6 Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Prevention Research Branch, Bethesda MD, USA.
authors: Ron
authors: R
authors: Iannotti
authors: 7 School of Medicine, Medical & Biological Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland.
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Levin
authors: 8 Health Promotion Research Centre, School of Health Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
authors: Saoirse Nic
authors: SN
authors: Gabhainn
authors: 9 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Ulrike
authors: U
authors: Ravens-Sieberer
authors: 10 Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Finland.
authors: Raili
authors: R
authors: Välimaa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009656:North America; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics