Cluster headache in childhood and adolescence: One-year prevalence in an out-patient population

Abstract

A multicenter one-year study was carried out on 6629 headache patients under 18 years of age, attending 27 centers and clinics devoted to headache in Italy to identify the prevalence of cluster headache (CH) in childhood and adolescence. Two male CH patients aged 9 and 17 years were identified. Their attacks fulfilled the IHS criteria for CH, and they were classified as having cluster headache with undetermined periodicity and episodic cluster headache, respectively. The one-year prevalence in this headache out-patient population under 18 years of age was calculated to be 0.03%. This value is smaller than that derived in the general population. This finding further confirms the rarity of early diagnosis of this primary disorder in childhood and adolescence, as demonstrated in other studies.