According to research published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, most children who suffer from chronic daily headache may outgrow the condition.
The study found 60% of the children no longer had chronic daily headache after one year, and 75% showed no symptoms after two years. Only 12% of the children tested still had symptoms of chronic daily headache after eight years. However, 75% of the children had episodic migraine or probable migraine, while 11% of the children were headache free after eight years.
“Our results suggest there is hope for children who experience these headaches and for their parents, who also deal with the frustration and considerable disability that this condition can bring,” said study author Shuu-Jiun Wang, MD, of the National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine in Taipei, Taiwan. “Parents and children should be prepared for the possibility that while chronic daily headache may get better over time, headaches in general may never fully go away, but for most children the headaches are much less frequent when they become young adults,” said Wang.
According to the study, a history of migraine was a major risk factor for children with chronic daily headache. The likelihood of having higher headache frequency and the condition eight years later was found in children who had chronic daily headache before the age of 13, those who overused pain medications, and those with the condition for more than two years….. Science Daily 4/8/12