HEADACHE AND ASTHMA

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between heada che and asthma, bronchodilators and atopy in school children. A cross- sectional survey of all primary school children was conducted in two t owns near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; one in the vicinity o f two coal-fired power stations, the other free of outdoor industrial air pollution. The main outcome measures were frequent headache, wheez ing, bronchial reactivity, use of bronchodilators and atopy. Eight hun dred and fifty-one primary school children aged 5-12 years participate d (92% response rate). Twenty-three per cent of the children were repo rted to have had a history of frequent headache. Crude odds ratios ind icated that the odds of frequent headache was significantly higher in children with asthma and atopy and where there was a smoker in the hom e, but that there was no association between frequent headache and use of bronchodilators or the sex of the child or socio-economic status m easured as father's occupation. Stepwise logistic regression with freq uent headache as the outcome of interest showed that, after adjusting for age and smoking in the home, the odds ratio for asthma (defined as current wheeze) was 3.24 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.19-4.77). Th e similarly adjusted odds ratio for asthma defined as bronchial hyperr eactivity (BHR) was 1.60 (95% CI 1.09-2.37). Atopy was not statistical ly significantly associated with headache for either model. Asthma (de fined as wheeze or BHR) is an independent risk factor for frequent hea dache. The relationship between headache and asthma is an association with bronchial hyperresponsiveness rather than atopy.