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ABSTRACT: Objective
To determine the underlying relationships between a broad range of headache-associated symptoms and how they relate to headache burden.Background
Symptoms associated with head pain inform classification of headache disorders. However, many headache-associated symptoms are not included in the diagnostic criteria, which is largely based on expert opinion. Large symptom databases can assess headache-associated symptoms irrespective of pre-existing diagnostic categories.Methods
We conducted a large single-center cross-sectional study on youth (6-17 years old) assessing patient-reported outpatient headache questionnaires between June 2017 and February 2022. Multiple correspondence analysis, an exploratory factor analysis, was applied to 13 headache-associated symptoms.Results
6662 participants (64% female; median age 13.6 years) were included. Multiple correspondence analysis dimension 1 (25.4% of the variance) captured the absence or abundance of headache-associated symptoms. A greater number of headache-associated symptoms correlated with greater headache burden. Dimension 2 (11.0% of the variance) revealed three symptom clusters: (1) cardinal features of migraine (light, sound, and smell sensitivity, nausea, and vomiting), (2) nonspecific global neurologic dysfunction symptoms (lightheadedness, trouble thinking, blurry vision), (3) vestibular and brainstem dysfunction symptoms (vertigo, balance problems, ear ringing, double vision).Conclusion
Assessing a broader range of headache-associated symptoms reveals clustering of symptomatology and a strong relationship with headache burden.
SUBMITTER: Patterson Gentile C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10852031 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Patterson Gentile Carlyn C Aguirre Geoffrey K GK Hershey Andrew D AD Szperka Christina L CL
Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache 20230701 7
<h4>Objective</h4>To determine the underlying relationships between a broad range of headache-associated symptoms and how they relate to headache burden.<h4>Background</h4>Symptoms associated with head pain inform classification of headache disorders. However, many headache-associated symptoms are not included in the diagnostic criteria, which is largely based on expert opinion. Large symptom databases can assess headache-associated symptoms irrespective of pre-existing diagnostic categories.<h4 ...[more]