Overview

Abstract (English)

Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are cross-sectionally associated with headache, including migraine, in pediatric populations. Objective The objective of this study was to determine whether ACEs are prospectively associated with incident health-professional diagnosed migraine and prevalence of non-migraine frequent headache in adolescence, either directly or indirectly through symptoms of depression and anxiety. Methods We used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, a Canadian cohort study that followed children aged 0/1 at baseline, and the person most knowledgeable about them (PMK) until the child reached adolescence. The PMK reported on 14 ACEs (e.g., parental death) when the child was 4/5 and 6/7 years, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in late childhood (age 8/9 years), using a validated tool. Migraine (primary outcome) was ascertained via PMK report of a health-professional diagnosis, and non-migraine frequent headache (>1 time per week) was adolescent self-report, both measured at age 14/15. We estimated direct and indirect effects (IEs) on the log-odds scale through symptoms of depression and anxiety (mediator). We adjusted for sex, parental migraine, and economic deprivation. The analytic sample sizes were: n = 2058 (migraine) and n = 1730 (frequent headache). Results There were nunweighted = 71 respondents with migraine (3.4%, 71/2058) and nunweighted = 204 with non-migraine frequent headache (11.8%, 204/1730). Most respondents experienced no ACEs (weighted percentage = 55.7), followed by 1 ACE (weighted percentage = 34.7) and greater than or equal to two ACEs (weighted percentage = 9.6), respectively. There were direct associations between experiencing one (odds ratio [OR] = 1.71, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–2.87) and equal to or greater than two (OR = 2.33, 95% CI: 1.13–4.80) ACEs and migraine, but not for non-migraine frequent headache. There were no indirect relationships through symptoms of depression and anxiety for migraine (1 ACE: OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.99–1.13 and ?2 ACEs: OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.98–1.28) or non-migraine frequent headache (1 ACE: OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.95–1.03 and ?2 ACEs: OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.90–1.07). Conclusions ACEs may confer an increased risk of migraine onset in adolescence. The association was not explained by symptoms of depression and anxiety in late childhood.

Abstract (French)

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