Prevalence, clinical features and accompanying signs of post-traumatic headache in children

Olga Nečajauskaitė, Milda Endzinienė¹, Kristina Jurienienė²

Center of Pediatric Surgery, Vilnius University Children‘s Hospital, ¹Clinic of Neurology, Kaunas University of Medicine, ²Department of Physics, Mathematics and Biophysics, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Key words: mild traumatic brain injury, children, chronic post-traumatic headaches, dizziness.

Summary. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical features of headaches and their accompanying signs in children with mild traumatic brain injury, as well as to evaluate their changes over time.

Material and methods. The research involved two groups of 4–16 year-old children: the case group of 301 children who had experienced a single mild traumatic brain injury, and the control group – 301 children who had suffered from any other mild body injury without head trauma. Groups were matched according to gender, age, date of admission to hospital. The period between the date of trauma and examination was at least one year (median 7 months). Standardized questionnaires were sent by post to parents from both groups. Parents were asked about character, frequency, dizziness and concomitant symptoms. In total, 102 matched pairs were analyzed.

Results. During the year before the filling in the questionnaires 114 (57.3%) parents indicated headaches: 64 (62.7%) in the case, and 50 (49%) in control group. Frequent (≥8 days per month) headaches prevailed in children with mild traumatic brain injury (p=0.039); however, their prevalence decreased from 43.8% to 12.5% (p=0.01) with increasing time interval between the date of trauma and the inquiry. By the character, duration, intensity of the headaches, none of the features (except dizziness) showed any difference between the groups. Thirty-three (51.6%) parents from the case and 16 (32%) from the control group indicated that dizziness accompanied headaches (p=0.036). Forty-five (44.1%) parents from the case group and 28 (27.5%) parents from the control group indicated that dizziness appeared separately from headaches (p=0.013). According to the data for the last month before the inquiry, there was no statistically significant difference between both groups when estimating the dynamics in time.

Conclusions. Headaches are not more prevalent in children with mild traumatic brain injury, compared to children with other mild body injuries. The frequency of headaches, as well as the prevalence of dizziness in children with mild traumatic brain injury decreases with time.

Correspondence to O. Nečajauskaitė, Center of Pediatric Surgery, Vilnius University Children‘s Hospital, Santariškių 7, 08406 Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail: olgutene@takas.lt

Received 26 October 2004, accepted 9 December 2004