Tough Subjects, Noise
Trigger Schoolkids' Headaches
Excerpt By Stephen Pincock, Reuters Health

Noisy classrooms and tough academic subjects can literally be a real headache for kids, Swedish researchers have found.

Working on the assumption that children probably have insights into what triggers their own headaches, Dr. Birgitta Hovelius and colleagues took the novel approach of actually asking a group of 10- to 14-year-olds.

"We are trying to understand children's intuitive knowledge and understanding of factors affecting their health from the point of view that their narratives represent an important source of knowledge in the area of medical research," Hovelius told Reuters Health. "Such research has been neglected."

The children consistently linked their headaches with conditions in school, the researchers report in the March issue of the British Journal of General Practice.

Headaches were tied "specifically with more theoretically-oriented subjects (maths or Swedish), a noisy and disorderly school environment, and insecure relations with classmates."

Another regular theme when the children were encouraged to talk freely was insecurity or conflict in their family.

However, the researchers write, "the biomedically-oriented health care services and the healthcare information to which the children had access scarcely provided them with any real help in dealing with their headaches."

"The results of our study elucidate why physicians will fail to make sense of children's headaches if they approach them from a purely biomedical perspective," Hovelius said.

"This stresses the importance of broadening the consultation to include aspects at the personal and contextual level."

As many as 50% to 70% of adolescents report headaches, according to recent studies.

SOURCE: British Journal of General Practice 2003;53:210-215.

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