Triggers of migraine in children at a public hospital in India

We conducted a descriptive study of children presenting with recurrent headaches to the general pediatric services of a tertiary-care, public hospital in northern India. This paper reports on the triggering factors of migraine in this population. 43 children, 3-18 year old (23 females, median age 10 years), presenting with recurrent headache from April, 2011 to January, 2012, were enrolled. History, clinical examination and follow-up were done using a structured proforma. Headache diagnosis was made on the basis of International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition (ICHD-II). 26 patients (60.5%) had headache with migraine features (11 had Tension type headache and 4 had non-specific headaches). Stress (both physical and emotional) was identified by the majority of children (46.1%) as the trigger for the headache. The triggers reported were different from those reported from other settings in India. We wish to highlight that the relative contribution of triggers in pediatric migraine may not be similar across regions/populations.