Objectives: To assess the quality of life in children with headache presented at an outpatient
pediatric department in a Dutch general hospital (Vlietland Hospital Vlaardingen/Schiedam,
the Netherlands)
Methods: From October 2003 until October 2005 all children who were specifically referred
to the outpatient pediatric department of the Vlietland Hospital because of headache
were investigated by protocol. A thorough history and general physical and neurological
examination were performed. The International Headache Society (IHS) criteria were
used for headache diagnosis. Quality of life (QoL) was measured by using the Dutch
translation of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ-PF50 Dutch edition), a questionnaire
of 50 items divided over 14 scales or life domains that was originally developed by
Landgraf and translated and validated for the Dutch pediatric population. Statistical
analyses were performed with means and standard deviations. The data were compared
with the data from a previously investigated cohort of healthy children in the region
Rijnmond, the same region where this study took place. The data were also compared
with the data of Landgraf who investigated a comparable cohort of children in the
USA with asthma and ADHD with the same questionnaire.
Results: A total of 70 children were included in the study. The age differed between 4 and
17 years, 37 children were male and 33 were female. Headache diagnosis by the IHS
criteria was tension type headache (29 children), migraine (37 children) or chronic
daily headache (6 children). There were two children who had two diagnoses. The QoL
of the investigated children was on nearly all the investigated domains decreased
compared with the cohort of healthy children, especially on the domain of bodily pain
and global health. Compared with the cohort of children with asthma the QoL was also
significantly less for our headache group on nearly all investigated domains. Compared
with the cohort of children with ADHD the QoL was in most fields comparable or better,
especially on the domain of self-esteem and family activities. Conclusion: Quality of life in children with headache presented in an outpatient pediatric department
in a general hospital in the Netherlands is considerably affected compared with the
quality of life with healthy children and even less than that of a cohort of children
with asthma in the U.S.A.
