Year: 2026 | Month: August | Volume: 13 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 210-215
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260821
Headache Disability and Associated Factors Among High School Children with Primary Headache
Priya Thankaraj Santhakumari1, Prof. Dr. Premaletha Thankaraj2, Dr. Mini Sreedharan3
1Associate Professor, Government College of Nursing, Thiruvananthapuram
2Rtd. Joint Director of Nursing Education, Government of Kerala
3Professor, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
Corresponding Author: Priya T S
ABSTRACT
Background: Headaches is an extremely frequent occurrence in children and adolescence and considered as the commonest reasons for neurological consultation. The prevalence of primary headache ranges from 10-20% in school aged children and increases with increasing age. Headaches in children and adolescents have devastating impact resulting in school absence, and decreased school performance, poor quality of life, social withdrawal, and changes in family interaction.
The present study aims to assess headache disability among high school children with primary headache and determine the associated factors.
Methods: The prevalence of primary headache among high school children was diagnosed using ICHD 3 beta diagnostic criteria. Questionnaire consisting of socio personal data and clinical data sheet were used to collect data and headache related disability was determined using PEDMIDAS tool.
Results: Among 1200 children studied 10.7% had little or no disability, 26.5% had mild disability, 5.3% had moderate disability, and 0.7% had severe disability and 56.8% had no primary headache. There was significant association between headache disability with gender, religion, type of school, mode of living, socioeconomic status, sleep, academic stress, menstruation, skipping breakfast, exposure to sunlight, stress from peers, loud noise, duration, intensity of headache with p value<0.05 level.
Conclusion: The primary headaches are composed of multiple entities that cause episodic and chronic head pain in the absence of an underlying pathologic process, disease, or traumatic injury. Many factors that trigger headache can be avoided with behavioral modifications and non-pharmacological approaches and estimation of children with disability helps to identify and adopt behavioral and pharmacological approach in prevention and management of headache.
Keywords: Tension type headache, PEDMIDAS
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