A WORRISOME TREND IN HEADACHE PAIN IN CHILDREN

A new research to be presented at the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) 2016 National Conference & Exhibition to be held in San Francisco reveals an increase in the number of child patients being presented with headaches at the pediatric emergency department.

The research team from the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) found this by analyzing the hospital’s electronic medical record. They found this trend in the age group of 4 to 20 years.

They also found that the children visiting this hospital for headache pain doubled from 2 to 4 percent in the period between 2007 and 2014. They also found that these patients were mostly females than males.

Dr. Regina Toto, the study’s co-author who is also the pediatric chief here says that, as per their study, they are performing fewer overall CT scans (computed tomography), and hence children are being spared from radiation exposure. But at the same time they are providing more headache medications to these children than they used to in the past, she added.  

These findings reveal a worrisome trend which calls for figuring out the reason(s) behind it.