PEDIATRICS Vol. 79 No. 6 June 1987, pp. 999-1004
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Anxiety and Life Events in Childhood Migraine

Pamela J. Cooper MD1, Harry N. Bawden PhD1, Peter R. Camfield MD1, and Carol S. Camfield MD1

1 From the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Dalhousie University and Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology, The Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

The assumption that anxiety and stressful life events are major precipitants of childhood migraine was examined by comparing a group of children referred for evaluation of headaches with their headache-free best friends. Before assessment, 39 children (average age 11 years, 20 girls) and their parents completed standard anxiety, personality, and life events scales. The same scales were administered to the control children and their parents. All subjects met Prensky's criteria for migraine, and all reviewed an audiovisual program on migraine and were given the same instruction about analgesic medications. History of headache averaged 35 months (1 to 132 months). No statistically significant differences were found between patients and controls or between the two groups of parents on any of the anxiety or life events scales. Children's anxiety scores were not related to parents' anxiety scores. Personality profiles of patients were similar to controls. Headache diaries were used to assess headache severity and frequency during a 4-month follow-up period. Although all patients had anxiety scores within the normal range, those with higher self-rated anxiety scores at initial assessment had significantly more frequent and severe headaches during the follow-up period (P < .001). We conclude that children with migraines are not more anxious or stressed than their friends. Normal amounts of stress and anxiety appear to lead to the expression of migraine; however, more anxious children with migraines have more frequent and severe headaches.

Key Words: migraine headache • anxiety • life event • personality

Submitted on July 21, 1986
Accepted on December 3, 1986




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