An Epidemiologic Study of Migraine and Headache in 10–20 Year Olds

SYNOPSIS Headache histories of a random sample of 600 ten to twenty year‐olds were obtained by standard interview and questionnaires were completed independently by the parents of those aged ten to fifteen. Parental headache histories and clinical evaluations were obtained on subsamples. Migraine was defined as headache with two of three features: unilaterality, nausea, or neurologic manifestations. The prevalence of migraine was higher in females but did not vary significantly with age, social class, menstrual status or history of cyclic or nervous vomiting, travel sickness or recurrent abdominal pain. The familial pattern of migraine was evident. Interview of ten to fifteen year‐olds for history of unilateral headache or neurologic features was more sensitive than questioning their parents. Development and proper documentation of standard and reliable methods for headache identification are a prerequisite for the reliability and comparability of both clinical and epidemiologic studies of headache