Abstract

Objective: Headache is the most common somatic symptom in children and adolescents and constitutes a large part of the patients who refer to our clinics. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical features and EEG findings of the children who had been diagnosed with migraine and tension type headache (TTH).

Material and Methods: Children who were admitted to our outpatient pediatric neurology clinics with the complaint of headache between January 2013 and December 2014 and who were diagnosed with migraine and tension type headache according to the “International Classification of Headache Disorders (3rd Edition beta version)” criteria were included in the study. The records of the patients were evaluated retrospectively. results: A total of 377 patients were enrolled in the study. The patients’ ages ranged from 5 to 19 years and the mean age was 12.6 ± 3.1 years. Females made up 57.3% of the sample. Patients were divided into two groups as migraine (218 patients) and tension type headache (159 patients). In both of the groups, the ratio of the girls increased significantly after 12 years of age. The number of headache attacks per month, the characteristics of the headache (being onesided, a throbbing nature, the presence of nausea, vomiting, photophobia and phonophobia, pain aggravation or triggering with physical activity) and the presence of a family migraine history were significantly different between the two groups. EEG findings were abnormal in 5.3% of the patients who underwent EEG. There was no significant difference in terms of abnormal EEG findings between the migraine and tension type headache groups. Flunarazine, amitriptyline, cyproheptadine were the usually prescribed treatments for migraine prophylaxis in our series and their effectiveness were 81%, 67% and 71% respectively.conclusion: Recurrent headaches in children constitute a huge burden for the child and the child neurology clinics. In the majority of the patients, the diagnosis can be made with a detailed history and a careful general and neurological examination. In patients with primary headache, the anxiety of the family and patient can be relieved to some extent

Keywords: Primary headaches, Children, Tension type headache, Migraine

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How to cite

1.
Gürkaş E, Karalök ZS, Taşkın BD, Aydoğmuş Ü, Yılmaz C. Clinical Features and EEg Findings in Childhood Migraine and Tension Type Headache. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2017 Aug. 1 [cited 2025 May 25];11(3):165-70. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/439