Headache in children: effectiveness of multidisciplinary treatment in a tertiary paediatric headache clinic.

AIM: The aim of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific multidisciplinary treatment programme for children with headache and to describe the concept and settings of the Children's Headache Clinic in Denmark.

METHOD: All new patients were included and evaluations were conducted after six and 12 months. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments were offered by a team of specialists (physicians, headache nurses, a physiotherapist and a psychologist).

PATIENTS: The subjects comprised 169 children (mean age 11.7 (range 4-17), 91 females, 78 males), 39% of whom suffered from chronic headache (≥15 days/month). All children were diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, second edition; 20% had migraine, 34% tension-type headache, 27% mixed headache, 4% medication-overuse headache, and 15% were diagnosed with other types of headaches.

RESULTS

Fifty per cent of the children had an improvement in headache frequency above 50% at six months. By the use of repeated measurement analysis, we found a significant decrease in headache frequency in all of the six headache groups, whereas the increase in quality of life (PedsQL™ 4.0) was significant for the group as a whole.

CONCLUSION

Though preliminary, the results show a good outcome for multidisciplinary treatment programmes for children who suffer from frequent or chronic headache.