CLINICAL CATEGORIZATION OF 312 CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC HEADACHE

Three hundred and twelve children referred to an outpatient pediatric neurology clinic, with headache that lasted more than 3 months, were r etrospectively reviewed. On average, the age of pain onset was 8.4 yea rs. Migraine was diagnosed in 54% of these children and tension-type h eadache was found in 22% of those with chronic headache. Most children (85%) had common migraine, while classic and complicated migraine was found in only 8.8% and 5.3%, respectively. Brief headaches, Tasting f rom seconds to a few minutes, were found in 51% of the children evalua ted. In this subgroup, a high rate of epileptic EEG activity was found . Out of 110 children who had undergone computerized tomography, only one was pathological (posterior arachnoid cyst). Our results indicate that chronic and recurrent headache without accompanying neurological symptoms are usually benign and therefore in most cases neuroimaging i s not indicated.