Evaluation of anxiety and depression in childhood migraine.

Childhood migraine can be the expression of an inconscious attempt of the small patient to show a discomfort which is de- nied through the defence of somatization. We considered a sample of 73 children, 39 males and 34 females suffering from migraine. We evaluated the presence of emotional disorders through diagnostic interviews consisting of one by one submission of the Anxiety Scale Questionnaire for Evolutive Age and the Children Depression Scale Test. Within our sam- ple we are able to distinguish three groups: a first group negative for both anxiety and depres- sive disorders, thus defined as control group; a second group presenting anxiety depressive disorders and a third one presenting a mostly depressive symptomatology. We found a signifi- cantly higher incidence of migraine in male first- born children belonging to the group with a con- dition associated to anxiety and depression.