The effect of maternal migraine headache on their children’s quality of life

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760- 017- 0790- y

Abstract-Summary Migraine is known to affect one’s quality of life; not only the person with migraine but also his/her family and social environment are affected by this condition.

Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of maternal migraine on children’s qual-

ity of life.

The Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Migraine Disability Assessment Scale, Beck Depression Index (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Index (BAI) were used for evaluation of mothers; 3 to 7-year old KINDL and 7- to 17-year-old KINDL-R Quality of Life Scales were used to evaluate the quality of life of children.

To be significant that VAS, BDI and BAI scores of the mothers were negatively

correlated with the children’s quality of life.

Our study concluded that the presence of migraine-type headache in mothers worsen the relations in school, self-esteem and quality of life in younger children and social relations, relations in school and quality of life in older children.

The maternal age, disease severity, and anxiety and depression symptoms were

shown to predict the quality of life in children.

Performing preventive interventions by individually assessing bio-psycho-social elements for the treatment of mothers with migraine will preserve other family member’s and especially children’s quality of life.

Extended: That mothers with migraine headaches have impaired quality of life

and more symptoms of depression and anxiety than the control group.

Introduction Chronic diseases are among the most influential factors affecting quality of life [278].

In a medium-scaled study conducted in 2016, the severity of an individual’s

migraine was determined to impact negatively on the quality of life [279].

Difficulties in business life, decline in academic achievement and problems in

family relations are accompanied by migraine headaches [280–282].

There is a lack of study in the literature discussing the effects of maternal migraine headaches on children and, in our knowledge, there are no studies that evaluate the effect of maternal migraine headaches on children’s quality of life.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of maternal migraine headaches on the offspring’s quality of life by comparing it with the children of healthy mothers.

Our hypothesis is that maternal migraine headaches decrease the quality of life

of the child.

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Materials and Methods A patient group of 70 mothers diagnosed with migraine, who applied to Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital Neurology Clinic, and their 111 healthy children without migraine or additional comorbid disease were included in this study. Pain severity of mothers was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score, quality of life was assessed by the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS), and depression and anxiety symptoms were evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).

Quality of life of children was evaluated using 3 to 7-year old Kindle and 7- to

17-year Kindle Quality of Life Scale.

The general purpose quality of life scale “KINDL” for children and adolescents

was developed for 4 to 17-year old children.

The KINDL parent form was used for 4 to 7-year old children, and the kid-

KINDL- R self-report form was used for 7- to 13-year-old children.

Findings The mean age of the migraine group was 37.09 ± 6.94 years.

Age of disease onset in the migraine group was 25.5 ± 8.7 years, disease duration was 11.7 ± 9.1 years, duration between the episodes was 5.7 ± 3.2 months, VAS score was 7.4 ± 1.3, and MIDAS score was 50.8 ± 50.4.

Regression analysis showed that maternal BDI and BAI scores were the two variables that predict the quality of life, in children between 3- to7-year-old, and the model was able to explain 30% of cases.

According to the regression analysis, maternal BDI and BAI scores were the two variables that predict the quality of life, in children between 7- to 17-year-old, and the model was able to explain 20% of cases.

Discussion This study indicated that the presence of migraine headache in mothers probably disrupts younger children’s school relations, self-esteem, and quality of life, and may affect older children’s social relations, school relations, and their quality of life. Maternal anxiety and depression symptoms, maternal age, and severity of mater- nal migraine headaches are the most possible factors that disrupt the children’s qual- ity of life.

Only the effect of maternal migraine headaches on children was assessed, because children with headache, recurrent abdominal pain, and chronic comorbid diseases were excluded from the study due to the possible effects on quality of life. This study may indicate that the quality of life in children with maternal migraine headache is impaired, and this impairment is particularly correlated with the emo- tional status of the mother, the duration of the disease and the severity of the pain.

Acknowledgement A machine generated summary based on the work of Güngen, Belma Doğan; Aras, Yesim Güzey; Gül, Sıdıka Sinem; Acar, Türkan; Ayaz, Ayşe Burcu; Alagöz, Aybala Neslihan; Acar, Bilgehan Atılgan. 2017 in Acta Neurologica Belgica.

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Personal and Societal Burden

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Quality of life in children and adolescents with migraine: an Austrian monocentric, cross-sectional questionnaire study