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Childhood Headache, Stress in Adolescence, and Primary Headache in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Cohort Study
Author(s) -
Waldie Karen E.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
headache: the journal of head and face pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.14
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1526-4610
pISSN - 0017-8748
DOI - 10.1046/j.1526-4610.2001.111006001.x
Subject(s) - migraine , headaches , medicine , pediatrics , population , cohort , young adult , cohort study , international classification of headache disorders , prospective cohort study , longitudinal study , psychiatry , gerontology , surgery , environmental health , pathology
Objectives.—To determine the association between childhood history of headache, adolescent stress, and headache syndromes (determined by International Headache Society criteria) in young adulthood. Background.—The association between stress and tension‐type headache has recently been challenged. Little is known about stress and other headache subtypes, particularly among young people from the general population. Design.—Members of the longitudinal Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study participated in this study. Study members were asked about headache characteristics/symptoms at aged 26 (96% of the living cohort), and historical records were examined to ascertain headache history (younger than 12 years) and the reporting of stressful life events at aged 15 years. Results.—Study members with childhood headache were significantly more likely to report adolescent stress than those without headache. High‐intensity stress during mid adolescence increased the likelihood of migraine diagnosis. In those with combined headache (migraine as well as tension‐type headache), this relation held only for those with a history of headache. Stress associated with bodily changes during mid adolescence was the only significant predictor of tension‐type headache. Conclusions.—Childhood headaches are related to the appraisal of life events reported during mid adolescence. Childhood headaches also appear to confer a specific risk for the development of combined headache. There was little evidence for a prospective relation between stress in mid adolescence and tension‐type headache in young adulthood, supporting claims that proximal (rather than distal) stress is associated with this disorder.