Risk factors of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with headache: A cross-sectional study

Abstract Introduction Despite numerous studies on the association between headache and psychological difficulties in children, the results remain inconclusive. Objective This cross-sectional study was conducted to clarify the links between anxiety-depression and headache in children. We evaluated th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revue européenne de psychologie appliquée 2013-09, Vol.63 (5), p.295-302
Main Authors: Rousseau-Salvador, C, Amouroux, R, Gooze, R, Salvador, A, Tourniaire, B, Rusinek, S, Annequin, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescent
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Anxiety
Anxiety disorders
Anxiété
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child clinical studies
Cognitive science
Céphalée
Depression
Dépression
Enfant
Headache
Internal Medicine
Medical sciences
Mood disorders
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
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Summary:Abstract Introduction Despite numerous studies on the association between headache and psychological difficulties in children, the results remain inconclusive. Objective This cross-sectional study was conducted to clarify the links between anxiety-depression and headache in children. We evaluated the levels of anxious and depressive symptoms and the influence of risk factors: age, sex, headache diagnosis, frequency and history to identify and treat headache sufferers most at risk. Method Data were collected from a clinical sample of 368 children aged 8 to 17 years. First, a structured interview using the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-II) was used to diagnose 88 patients with migraine (M), 32 with tension-type headache (TTH), and 248 with a combination syndrome (M + TTH). Second, levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed with the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (R-CMAS) and the Multiscore Depression Inventory for Children (MDI-C). Results An ANOVA analysis showed that the mean scores for anxiety and depressive symptom levels were significantly higher among older patients and that only the M + TTH diagnosis was significantly associated with anxiety. Children with clinically significant levels of anxiety symptoms were more prevalent in our sample than in the general population (13% versus 5%). Anxiety and depression were not associated with child sex, headache frequency and history. Conclusion We propose systematic screening for anxiety in children presenting with headache, particularly adolescents and patients with a combination diagnosis.
ISSN:1162-9088
1878-3457
DOI:10.1016/j.erap.2013.07.005