Prevalence of headache in children of a school from Curitiba, Brazil, comparing data obtained from children and parents

ABSTRACT

This study analyzed prevalence, frequency and cause of headache among 460 children ranging from 10 to 14 years-old from a Brazilian school. A questionnaire was handed both to children and parents to know if there would be differences among children and parenteral reports. The lifetime prevalence of headache was 93.5 per cent (children reports) and 93.3 per cent (parenteral reports). The last year prevalence was 90 per cent (children) and 89.8 per cent (parents). Headache episodes were frequent in 17.6 per cent (children) and 18.5 per cent (parents). The most often reported cause was "flu" (39.1 per cent by children, and 46.7 per cent by parents). This study demonstrated that the prevalence of headache in children is high; moreover, there were noted few differences between data obtained from children and parents. So, we could say that when the objective of a epidemiologic study is to determine the prevalence of headache in children, both children and parental reports may be used.