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. 2010 Jan 29;11(3):235–240. doi: 10.1007/s10194-010-0191-6

Comorbidity between headache and epilepsy in a pediatric headache center

Irene Toldo 1,✉, Egle Perissinotto 2, Francesca Menegazzo 1, Clementina Boniver 1, Stefano Sartori 1, Leonardo Salviati 1, Maurizio Clementi 1, Pasquale Montagna 3, Pier Antonio Battistella 1
PMCID: PMC3451908  PMID: 20112041

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse the comorbidity between headache and epilepsy in a large series of children with headache (1,795). Fifty-six cases (3.1%) suffered from idiopathic headache and idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy or unprovoked seizures. There was a strong association between migraine and epilepsy: in migraineurs (46/56) the risk of epilepsy was 3.2 times higher when compared with tension-type headache, without significant difference between migraine with and without aura (P = 0.89); children with epilepsy had a 4.5-fold increased risk of developing migraine than tension-type headache. In cases with comorbidity, focal epilepsies prevailed (43/56, 76.8%). Migraineurs affected by focal epilepsies (36/56) had a three times higher risk of having a cryptogenic epilepsy (27/36, 75%) than an idiopathic epilepsy (9/36, 25%) (P = 0.003). In migraine with aura, epilepsy preceded migraine in 71% of cases. Photosensitivity (7/56, 12.5%) and positive family history for epilepsy (22/56, 39%) were frequent in cases with comorbidity.

Keywords: Headache, Migraine, Epilepsy, Comorbidity, Children

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Conflict of interest

None.

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