HEADACHE AND ITS CORRELATIONS WITH OBESITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

Headache is a disabling condition causing individual impaired quality of life in adults and in children. Positive correlation between obesity and primary pediatric headaches is mostly true for migraine. Also eating habits, influence headaches. There is paucity of information on cardiovascular risk factors for headache in children, although a relationship between migraine and cardiovascular diseases has been reported in adulthood. 238 children (127 females) aged 6 to 10 years from primary schools were included in the study. A questionnaire on life habits, Body Mass Index (BMI), PedMIDAS score, pain scale intensity score and cardiovascular investigation were performed in all. The two-step cluster analysis identified three groups of children based on PedMIDAS scores: first group “absent pain”, the second  “sporadic, low-impact, mild pain”, the third as “non sporadic, moderate-impact, severe pain”. Only sex, BMI, gestational  hypertension, and fish eating could discriminate among the three headache clusters. Our study suggest that adopting a healthy lifestyle before 10 years of age could be a good way to prevent a highly probable headache worsening at later ages.