Abstract
Objective: To identify any changes in headache severity and/or frequency in children with primary headache syndromes, during the time of remote learning.
Background: Primary headache syndromes are one of the most common reasons to visit neurologists in childhood and adolescence. In the time of remote learning with stay-at-home policy implemented for COVID-19 pandemic, it is easily estimated that there will be a significant change in the daily routines and habits of the children as well as their emotional stress levels, which, in turn, would impact the frequency and severity of the headaches.
Design/Methods: Retrospective chart review of children with primary headache syndromes with visits during remote learning period (4/1/20–6/30/20). Overall changes in headache burden, frequency and intensity, as well as associated behavioral habits and emotional stress levels were extracted and compared to control group of patients with visits during pre-remote learning period (1/1/20–3/31/20). Demographic data (age, gender, headache diagnosis, treatment) was also obtained.
Results: There were a total of 48 patients that were involved in the study, 17 were in the pre-remote learning group, 31 in the post learning group. The demographic data between groups were similar with an average age of 14 years (range 6–19) and 54.6% were girls. Based on the Fisher exact test, in the pre-remote learning group, 41.2% of patients reported improvement in their headaches at follow up compared to 80.6% of patients in post-remote learning era (p= 0.0142). There was also a decrease in frequency of headaches post-remote learning in 77.4% (p=0.0225). The change in duration and severity were not significant.
Conclusions: There was a statistically significant improvement of patient’s headaches during the remote learning era, which is likely attributed to lifestyle changes due to the pandemic. This supports the importance of behavioral interventions for headache management. Further study is warranted with a larger number of patients.
Disclosure: Dr. Andriotis has nothing to disclose. Dr. Abulsayen has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hisamoto has nothing to disclose.
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