Depressive and Anxious Tendency and Behavioral Abnormalities of Children Suffering from Recurrent Headache

Song, Myoung Hoon; Oh, Seung Mi; Lee, Kon Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE: Headache is a common disorder in childhood and adolescence and frequently associated with emotional or psychological problems. In this study we studied behavioral and psychological characteristics of recurrent headache patients.
METHODS
We evaluated 120 patients over 9 years old with headache who visited Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital. 33 patients who didn't have headache were included in the control group. Diagnosis was confirmed according to ICHD-2 classification and KCBCL, TAIC, CDI, and SAIC were conducted in all participants.
RESULTS
Male to female ratio was 0.7:1 in the study group and 1.1:1 in the control group and the mean age was 11.5+/-2.1 and 12.6+/-2.0 years old respectively. 73.3% of patients were migraine and 26.7% were tension type headache. The mean of KCBCL total scores was 56.2 in the migraine group, 54.0 in the tension type headache group, and 38.3 in the control group and the score was higher in the headache group(P<0.001). The means of internalizing and externalizing scores were 59.8 and 54.1 in the migraine group, 57.4 and 51.3 in the tension headache group, and 40.1 and 42.4 in the control group respectively and the scores were higher in the headache group(P<0.001). The mean scores of SAIC and TAIC were 36.3 and 33.6 in the migraine group, 36.3 and 34.6 in the tension type headache group, and 25.3 and 26.9 in the control group respectively and the scores were higher in the headache group(P<0.001). The mean scores of CDI were 14.9 in the migraine group, 14.5 in the tension type headache group, and 9.1 in the control group and the scores were higher in the headache group(P=0.002).
CONCLUSION
The patients with recurrent headache showed statistically significant higher scores in CBCL total, internalizing, and externalizing scores, SAIC, TAIC, and CDI in comparison with the control group.