by Joene Hendry
NEW YORK, Jun 23 (Reuters Health) - For teenage migraine sufferers, Mondays
are the day they are most likely to experience the excruciating headaches,
according to data presented Thursday at the 42nd annual scientific meeting of
the American Headache Society in Montreal, Canada. The day of respite appears to
be Saturday, the time teens are the least likely to suffer from a migraine.
In a survey of 1,932 adolescents aged 12 to 17, 20% said they had headaches
on a Monday, 16% had them on Tuesdays or Wednesdays and only 9% reported
migraines on Saturday, said Dr. Paul Winner of the Palm Beach Headache Center in
West Palm Beach, Florida. He and colleagues analyzed data from 35 clinics in the
US.
"These headaches are quite disabling," Winner told Reuters Health. Pain was
aggravated by activity in 88% of participants, and migraine severity was listed
as moderate by 55% and severe by 41% of the adolescents.
Migraine characteristics in adolescents differ from those of adults, Winner
said. Before treatment, 53% of the teens had nausea and 5% experienced vomiting.
In comparison, about 80% of adult migraine sufferers experience nausea and 60%
have vomiting.
"We need to pay attention more for things that might increase stress such as
lack of sleep or dietary habits and look for ways to decrease these stress
burdens (in adolescents)," Winner said.
Winner and colleagues are currently gathering information on the incidence
of migraines in adolescents during months when school is and is not in session,
speculating that the 'early week effect' seen in this study may be triggered by
stress.
