Features and Management of New Daily Persistent Headache in Developmental-Age Patients

INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to investigate the clinical features of primary new daily persistent headache (NDPH) in a cohort of paediatric patients.

METHODS: We reviewed the data of patients with persistent daily headache, attending the Headache Centre of Bambino Gesù Children from the January 2009. The ICHD-III criteria were used for diagnosis. Statistical analysis was conducted to study possible correlations between NDPH and population features (age and sex), NDPH and headache qualitative features, and NDPH and response to pharmacological therapies.

RESULTS: We included 46 subjects with NDPH. The features of pain more closely resembled those of migraine than to those of tension-type headache (62 vs. 38%). The NDPH patients showed nausea and vomiting less frequently than migraine ones (28.6 vs. 48.2%, p < 0.01). A total of 75% of NDPH patients experienced an onset of the symptoms in the winter months (November to February) (p < 0.01). NDPH was less common in very young children under 10 years of age. Almost 58% of NDPH patients received pharmacological therapy and the most used drug was amitriptyline. A reduction of attacks by at least 50% in a month was detected in 30.6% of patients.

CONCLUSIONS: NDPH can be very disabling and correlates with seasonal factors. Although long term pharmacological therapy is recommended, considering the long duration that this headache can have, there are no data supporting the treatment choice.