growing pains
By A. David Rothner, MD
Big Problems
Childhood and adolescent obesity can cause a range of health and psychosocial problems— including an increased likelihood of headache.
Research from all parts of the globe— including Norway, Germany, Israel and the United States— confirms that lifestyle is a major player in not only the frequency of headaches but also in their severity and treatment. Physicians and researchers agree that factors such as sleep, diet, hydration, exercise, smoking and stress all play an important role. One major determinant for all populations is obesity, a medical condition in which a person has excess body fat.
The obesity problem is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. But when most people think of obesity, they picture a sedentary adult population. In reality, this condition is taking its toll on children and adolescents, as well. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents in the U. S. are obese, and this can have a significant impact on almost every aspect of their lives.
Obese children and adolescents have lower healthrelated quality of life( HRQOL) scores in physical, social and school domains when compared with children of normal weight. Overweight children are stereotyped as being unhealthy, academically unsuccessful, socially inept, unhygienic and lazy. They also tend to show symptoms of decreased self-esteem, sadness, loneliness, nervousness and high-risk behaviors.
In addition, this group is much more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have headaches, according to Andrew M. Hershey, MD, PhD, pediatric neurologist and director of the Headache Center at Cincinnati Children’ s Hospital Medical Center. Although obesity does not cause headaches, it can increase headache frequency and the likelihood of disability in predisposed populations.
In a study published in the journal Headache, Dr. Hershey reported on data gathered from seven pediatric headache centers. The prevalence of overweight patients was similar in both the general and headache
18 HEAD WISE | Volume 1, Issue 3 • 2011