Chronic daily headache in a paediatric headache centre

J Headache Pain. 2005 Sep;6(4):274-6. doi: 10.1007/s10194-005-0209-7.

Abstract

The prevalence and the clinical features of chronic daily headache (CDH) were studied in 968 children and adolescents observed during a period of one year in the Headache Centre of the Anna Meyer Paediatric Hospital of Florence. Nine hundred and forty-four patients (97.52%) had primary headache according to ICHD-II, 24 subjects had secondary headache and 56 patients had CDH (5.93% of primary headaches). The mean age of subjects with CDH was higher than general (13.5 vs. 11.5 years), with a female preponderance (69.6% vs. 30.4%). According to the ICHD-II, headaches were classified as chronic migraine in 10 patients (1.5.2 ICHD-II), chronic tension-type headache in 36 (2.3 ICHD-II), new daily persistent headache in 8 (4.8 ICHD-II) and 2 patients reported mixed pattern (chronic migraine+chronic tension type headache). Medication overuse was not implicated in our patients.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Child Health Services
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Headache Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Italy / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Migraine Disorders / epidemiology
  • Prevalence
  • Tension-Type Headache / epidemiology