Characteristics of children presenting to a behavioral treatment program for pediatric headache

This study examined headache characteristics and psychological variables as sociated with pediatric headache in a specialty treatment clinic. Children were referred by pediatric neurologists to a hospital-based pediatric behav ioral medicine clinic for behavioral treatment in conjunction with medical management of the pain. Headache typology of the children indicated that 1/ 3 of the sample reported at least daily headaches, and a large percentage o f patients described experiencing headaches that lasted for more than a day (26%). Child and parent report of pain revealed a fairly high level of cor respondence for headache activity. Regarding other psychological characteri stics, children in this study endorsed higher than expected levels of somat ization even after adjusting for headache symptoms. Compared with children' s report, parents' report showed only slightly higher levels of secondary g ain experienced by children because of pain. Gender differences were not fo und. The implications of these findings for improving our understanding of pediatric headache are discussed.