Preliminary prospective observational investigation of clinical outcomes among treatment-seeking youth with continuous headache.

We followed 28 youth with continuous headache [CH] – or headache that has not gone away for at least a month – for the first 3–4 months when they received treatment at a large multidisciplinary headache clinic, and asked them questions about the treatments they used, how often their headaches occurred after initial treatment, and how often headaches made it difficult to participate in daily activities like school. Almost half of youth reported a break in their headache by the third or fourth month of treatment, but most said that their headaches continued to significantly get in the way of their daily lives; pill-based treatment use was high but use of non-medicine treatment options like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) decreased over time. More research needs to focus on what youth with CH prioritize in treatment, and whether we can improve interventions like CBT to meet the needs of youth with CH.