A Pilot Study of Migraine and Appetite Behaviour in Children

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of headache and associated symptoms. The condition affects approximately 11% of the child population and it can impose considerable burdens on the sufferer either due to the headache itself, or associated co-morbidities such as psychological stress, obesity, sleep problems, etc. Increasing attention is focussing on the shared genetic, environmental and neurobiological mechanisms of migraine co-morbidities to gain further insights into improving outcomes.

We are interested in studying eating behaviours in children with migraine since there is evidence that altered patterns of eating behaviour (and underlying changes in appetite) are seen in migraineurs although not studied systematically. Altered appetite and eating behaviours may be a mechanism for the emerging association between obesity (or degree of adiposity) and migraine severity, detected in both adult and paediatric studies to varying extents. Studying the putative association between migraine, degree of adiposity and patterns of eating behaviour in children may help to tease out causal mechanisms, since both migraine and obesity often evolve over the course of childhood.

Inclusion criteria

• Children and adolescents between 5 years and 16 years of age.
• Clinical diagnosis of migraine (for cases).
• Controls are recruited from children referred with headache, who do not receive diagnosis of migraine.

Exclusion criteria

• Adolescents 17 years or over.
• Secondary migraine-like disorder e.g., post-craniotomy headache.