Recurrent headache, coping, and quality of life in children: A review

Objectives.-To clarify the concepts of coping with pain and quality of Life (QoL) and to present a literature review of the strategies that children w ith recurrent headaches use to cope with their pain, the impact of recurren t headaches on children's QoL, and the influence of personal and situationa l variables on headache, coping, and QoL in children. Methods.-The literature search encompassed published articles that were fou nd by means of a CD-ROM search of MEDLINE (1966 to December 1998) and PsycL IT (1974 to December 1998) and the snowball method. Results.-ln pediatric headache research, only three studies have been found in which children report the use of various coping strategies, and only tw o studies considered QoL, Demographic factors and psychological variables s uch as depression, anger, and anxiety influence headache prevalence. The im pact of headache-related variables such as headache type, severity, perceiv ed cause, and prior experience on QoL has only been studied in adults. Conclusions.-More research on coping and QoL is needed in pediatric headach e. The conceptual model that is presented in this article may serve as a gu ide.