Cohort study, 2009
How common are menstrual migraines in teenage girls?
About half of teenage girls who have started their period experience headaches around the time of menstruation. The pattern appears during adolescence and stays consistent once established.
What they did
Retrospective review of medical records from 896 girls aged 9 to 18 years. Researchers looked at their headache patterns and whether headaches were associated with their menstrual period based on patient and parent reports.
What they found
Of 896 girls, 331 (50.3% of girls who had started menstruating and 36.9% of all girls) reported experiencing headaches with their menstrual period. Of those with a menstrual pattern, 63.6% reported migraines occurring between 2 days before and 3 days after period start. Interestingly, 160 girls reported monthly headache patterns even before they started menstruating.
What it means for you
Menstrual headaches and migraines are common in adolescent girls. Once the pattern develops, it tends to be stable. Early identification may help with long-term treatment planning. However, this study relied on patient and parent recall of past events and was not prospective, so the findings may not be completely accurate.
896
Girls reviewed
50.3%
Of menarchal girls with menstrual headaches
63.6%
Whose migraines occurred days -2 to +3
About the study
- Original title
- Menstrual migraine in adolescents
- Authors
- Crawford MJ, Lehman L, Slater S et al.
- Journal
- Headache
- Year
- 2009
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 896
- What was tested
- None
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4610.2009.01347.x
Topics
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