title: Migraine equivalents and related symptoms, psychological profile and headache features: which relationship?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Migraine equivalents are common clinical conditions in children suffering from headache. Very few studies dealt with the psychological profile of children/adolescents with migraine equivalents. Our main aim was to compare the psychological profile between migraine children with and without migraine equivalents. Moreover, as secondary aim, exclusively in children with migraine equivalents, we investigated the possible relationship between migraine attack frequency and intensity and psychological factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 136 young migraineurs. They were divided in two groups (patients with and without migraine equivalents). The psychological profile was assessed by means of SAFA Anxiety and Somatization questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Migraine equivalents were present in 101 patients (74.3%). Anxiety (p = 0.024) and somatization (p = 0.001) levels, but not hypochondria (p = 0.26), were higher in patients with migraine equivalents. In children with migraine equivalents, a low frequency of attacks was related to separation anxiety (p = 0.034).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Migraine equivalents patients tend to feel more fearful and to experience more shyness. This, together with the tendency to somatization, may lead them to become vigilant in attachment relationships with their caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Headache Center, Division of Neurology, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesú, IRCCS, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy, samuela.tarantino@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Samuela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tarantino
authors.forename: Cristiana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Ranieri
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dionisi
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gagliardi
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capuano
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vigevano
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valeriani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology