Teen stress a strong risk factor for headaches

The Headache Clinic
16.05.23 03:56 PM Comment(s)

Stress has a dire impact on the quality of modern life, and this is sometimes amplified in a teenager’s life. Often pressures from school, home, friends, and physical changes during this highly self-aware period can lead to anxiety and the latest research also suggests it can even have an impact on the frequency of headaches teenagers get

 A recent study, published in Pediatric Neurology, aimed to describe the relationship between risk factors, such as stress, depression and anxiety, and potentially protective factors against paediatric headache-related disability. It found that stress is “the strongest risk factor for headache-related disability”.

The study was a cross-sectional survey among adolescents seen in an academic neurology clinic, who were reporting four or more headaches monthly. Among the 29 participants, the average age was

14.8 years with a ratio of 31% male and 69% female. The average headache frequency was 11.6 per month and the most commonly reported trigger was stress (86% of the participants reported stress).

Headache disability was assessed using the six-item Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) (which is a validated assessment of the functional impact of headaches for both migraine and TTH in adults and has been used in adolescent as well as adult headache populations).

Reducing headaches, reducing depression.

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The Headache Clinic