Migraine in Children: School Performance May Suffer

School performance is more likely to be below average in children who have migraine than in those who do not have headaches, according to a study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
 

For the study of 5671 Brazilian children aged 5 to 12 years, students’ teachers provided the same information on their performance that was provided to educational boards. Teachers also completed a validated questionnaire screening for emotional and behavioral problems and interviewed parents with a questionnaire that covering their children’s medical history, headaches, and other information.
 

School performance was below average in 30% more children with migraine; 0.6% of the children had chronic migraine (migraine on 15 or more days per month), 9% had episodic migraine, and 17.6% had probable migraine (they met all but one of the criteria for migraine and did not meet the full criteria for any other type of headache syndrome).
 

The link between migraine and poor performance in school was even stronger for children with migraines that were more severe or lasted longer and those with chronic migraine, as well as those who also had emotional or behavioral problems.
 

To learn more about migraine, visit the AAN Web site.