THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEADACHE AND SLEEP DISORDERS: FINDINGS FROM AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY IN A POPULATION OF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

Introduction. Headache and sleep disorders have a high impact in children, both from the point of view, of prevalence and from the perspective of the quality of life of the subjects who stiffer their consequences. Aim. To determine the prevalence of sleep disorders among the child population that suffers from headaches. Subjects and methods. The Spanish version (if the Paediatric Sleep Questionnaire was administered to a representative sample of the child and teenage population that attend the different schools in the town of Gandia. This questionnaire. includes two questions about the existence of headache. Results. In all, 887 subjects answered the survey (68% of respondents). The sleep disorders that are clearly associated with headache are: rhythmic movement disorders, sleep-talking, nightmares, waking lip more than twice during the night, unwillingness to go to bed, earl), waking, delayed onset of sleep, insomnia, irregular hours of going to bed and getting lip, excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring and positive screening for apnea-hypopnea syndrome. Conclusions. It is shown that the population with headaches has a greater number of sleep disorders, mainly insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness and parasomnias. It is important to gather information about sleep habits in any child who is attended because of headache. [REV NEUROL 2009; 48: 412-7]