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Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Author ORCID Identifier

NEVRA ÖKSÜZ: 0000-0003-4825-7457

GÜLEN AKSU: 0000-0001-9690-6699

ASENA ÖZDEMİR: 0000-0002-0108-1880

AYNUR ÖZGE: 0000-0003-2797-2398

DOI

10.55730/1300-0144.5870

Abstract

Background/aim: Migraine is a prevalent neurological disorder that can lead to disability in children and adolescents. It is frequently accompanied by psychiatric comorbidities, both internalizing and externalizing disorders. While the relationship between migraine and internalizing disorders has been studied, there is limited research on the link between migraine and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Materials and methods: A total of 280 pediatric headache patients, 107 with externalizing (ADHD) and 173 with internalizing disorders (depression and/or anxiety), were included. The dataset was composed using the Turkish headache database, Mersin Branch. Pain characteristics, associated symptoms, and accompanying comorbidities were evaluated retrospectively.Results: Two hundred four patients were followed up with episodic migraine (EM) and 76 patients with chronic migraine (CM). One hundred forty-six boys and 134 girls were evaluated, and internalizing disorders were more common in the girls (p < 0.001). It was a much more prominent accompaniment in chronic migraine internalizing disorders (p = 0.038). EM, on the other hand, was more frequent in ADHD. Pain intensity and frequency were greater in those with internalizing disorders (p = 0.007), while photophobia was more prevalent in those with ADHD (OR; 0.555, p = 0.044). Moreover, we observed that individuals with internalizing disorders were predominantly female (p = 0.003) and had a higher mean age (p < 0.001) than those with externalizing disorders.Conclusion: Internalizing disorders seem to be a risk factor for migraine chronification in pediatric migraine. ADHD is a prototypic externalizing disorder more associated with EM. This outcome provides an opportunity to follow our patients in terms of prognosis and offers us the chance for a better evaluation. Identifying factors that contribute to the chronicity of migraine may lead to better management and reduced disability for migraine sufferers.

Keywords

childhood, chronification, externalizing, frontostriatal circuit, internalizing, Migraine

First Page

930

Last Page

937

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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