Relationship between sleep problems and headaches among adolescents: Pelotas 2004 Birth cohort

• Published in: Sleep medicine. X Vol. 6; p. 100079
• Main Authors: Bierhals, Isabel Oliveira, de Oliveira, Gabriel Santana Pereira, Santos, Iná S., Halal, Camila S., Tovo-Rodrigues, Luciana, Matijasevich, Alicia, Barros, Fernando C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.12.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescents; Headache; Sleep; Sleep problems; Headache; Sleep; Adolescents; Sleep problems
• ISSN: 2590-1427; 2590-1427
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sleepx.2023.100079

To investigate the cross-sectional association between sleep problems (the exposure) and headaches (the outcome) among 15-year-olds from the Pelotas 2004 Birth Cohort, a population-based study in the south of Brazil. The occurrence of headaches was obtained through the question: “Do you usually suffer headaches?” and the ICHD-3 criteria were used to classify as: tension-type headache, headache with characteristics of migraine with or without aura, or other. Regarding sleep, the weekly frequency in the last month of insomnia and bad dreams/nightmares, and self-reported sleep quality were investigated. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated using Poisson regression with robust variance. A total of 1916 adolescents were analyzed. The prevalence of headaches was 51.6% (69.0% in females and 34.8% in males): 31.8% (39.7% vs. 24.1%) reported tension-type headache; 14.7% (21.9% vs. 7.8%), headaches with characteristics of migraines without aura; 3.6%, headaches with characteristics of migraines with aura; and 1.5% (5.1% vs. 2.3%), other types. Adolescents with insomnia ≥3 times/week presented higher probability of headaches (PR = 1.54; 95%CI 1.23–1.93), compared with those with no problems falling asleep or maintaining sleep. Among those who classified their sleep as poor/very poor, the probability of headaches was 33% higher (PR = 1.33; 95%CI 1.13–1.57) than among those who classified their sleep as very good. Headaches were highly prevalent among the adolescents and were related to sleep problems even after allowing for several confounders. •This study showed that headaches are a highly prevalent condition, reported by 51.6% of 15-year-old adolescents.•The headaches are strongly associated with the occurrence of sleep problems, such as insomnia and poor-quality sleep.•The most prevalent type of headache was tension-type headache with a prevalence of 31.8%.