Allergic Migraine in Children

Abstract

In a recent article we1 have shown that approximately 7 per cent of the people in this country some time in life suffer from the symptom complex known as migraine, and that about 30 per cent of all patients with migraine manifest symptoms before 10 years of age. In other words, the syndrome is common in childhood ; however, if a child were brought to a physician with a history of periodic headaches, nausea and vomiting, even if the family tree were saturated with allergic diseases, including migraine, few general practitioners would think of migraine as a possible diagnosis, and many pediatricians would give it little consideration. In their textbooks Porter and Carter,2 and Holt,3 did not mention the syndrome. Hassin4 stated that migraine is common in childhood; he treated the subject somewhat briefly. The paucity of literature and our findings concerning the incidence and age of onset of the syndrome have encouraged the presentation of this article. AGE OF ONSETAlger5 found that in 3 per cent of cases of migraine symptoms develop before the age of 10 years. Block " stated that in the vast majority symptoms develop before the age of 25. In a study of 202 adults suffering from migraine we x found that symptoms developed in 29.7 per cent during the first decade, and in an additional 30.6 per cent before 20. At present we are caring for a number of migrainous children under 5 years of age, all of whom came, not on account of

School Problems and Other Factors in Childhood Headache Syndromes

“…Age, sex, family history, vomiting, transient neurological deficits, dizziness, visual aura, electroencephalogram results and allergies have been previously documented as factors related to childhood headache (Balyeat & Rinkel, 1931;Bille, 1962;Hockaday, 1978). The hypothesized factor of school problems was identified in 25 of the 54 subjects or 46% of the sample population.…”

“…In the conclusion of their report, Balyeat and Rinkel (1931) referred to the "paucity of literature" (p. 1133) available on childhood migraine. Michael and Williams (1956) implied a neglect of the syndrome.…”

History of Childhood Headaches

“…This was limited to the observation that migraines may start in childhood. The initial description of childhood headaches themselves began to appear in the early 1900s [16][17][18][19][20]. These papers began to identify that children could suffer from the same headache disorders as adults, but with subtle variations.…”

“…Balyeat and Rinkel [18] in 1931 reported on their experience with migraine. They noted that 30% of their patients developed their symptoms before 10 years old.…”

Recent Observations in Serum Disease

“…Recently, he and Rinkel9 have studied 202 cases of migraine from the allergic point of view and have emphasized the frequency of migraine in children. 10 Beecher 11 reported four cases in 1929. Eyermann,12 in 1931, reported good results in 69 per cent of a group of sixty-three patients with headaches.…”