Prevalence of headache in children of a school from Curitiba, Brazil, comparing data obtained from children and parents

Abstract

This study analyzed prevalence, frequency and cause of headache among 460 children ranging from 10 to 14 years-old from a Brazilian school. A questionnaire was handed both to children and parents to know if there would be differences among children and parental reports. The lifetime prevalence of headache was 93 5% (children reports) and 93.3% (parental reports). The last year prevalence was 90% (children) and 89 8% (parents). Headache episodes were frequent in 17.6% (children) and 18 5% (parents). The most often reported cause was "flu" (39.1 % by children, and 46.7% by parents). This study demonstrated that the prevalence of headache in children is high, moreover, there were noted few differences between data obtained from children and parents. So, we could say that when the objective of a epidemiologic study is to determine the prevalence of headache in children, both children and parental reports may be used.