Psychiatric Comorbidity in Childhood and Adolescence Headache

Abstract

Primary headaches among children and adolescents have a substantial impact on quality of life, daily activities, social interaction, and school performance in combination with psychopathological symptoms. The main purpose of the present paper is to summarize clinical and epidemiological evidence for psychiatric comorbidity among children and adolescents with headaches, to describe how evidence in headache research suggest different pathways involved in the development and maintenance of these comorbid conditions, and finally suggest some elements professionals may find helpful to assess the scope of complaints, related functional impairment, and potential precipitating factors in planning of more targeted treatments.