Headaches in children are common, increasing in incidence from early childhood to adolescence. They account for 0.7% to 1.3% of all pediatric emergency department visits.[1] [2] Headaches may be classified as primary or secondary.[3] Primary headaches include migraine, tension-type, cluster, as well as the new daily persistent headache. Secondary headaches are symptomatic of an underlying intracranial or medical condition that requires treatment. The initial evaluation of acute headache aims to determine whether there is a secondary cause for headache that requires urgent intervention.
Summary
Clinical classification
Headache may be classified in terms of time course.
Acute headache
- A single episode of headache pain without prior headaches.
- May represent the first or an unusually severe form of primary headache.
- May suggest a new acute secondary cause for headache that, therefore, requires evaluation.
Acute recurrent headache
- Stereotyped headaches separated by headache-free periods.
- Most suggestive of a primary headache disorder, especially if the pattern has persisted for a long period.
- May also occur in secondary headache, as with intermittent elevation in intracranial pressure.
- A gradual increase in headache.
- Suggestive of an expanding intracranial lesion.
- Of children with brain tumors, 62% have headache prior to diagnosis, and 98% have at least one neurologic symptom or abnormality on exam.
- The most common symptoms include nausea or vomiting, difficulty walking, visual symptoms, focal weakness, or personality change.
- The most common signs include optic nerve edema, abnormal eye movements, ataxia, abnormal reflexes, and visual field or acuity defects.
Chronic nonprogressive headache
- Constant steady headache.
- May be due to a chronic type of primary headache or similar secondary etiologies.
The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition: migraine diagnostic criteria
Migraine without aura[3]
- A: At least 5 attacks fulfilling criteria B-D
- B: Headache attacks lasting 2 to 72 hours in children and adolescents ages under 18 years (when untreated or unsuccessfully treated; 4 to 72 hours in adults)
- C: Headache having at least 2 of the following characteristics:
- Unilateral location, may be bilateral, frontotemporal*
- Pulsing quality
- Moderate or severe pain intensity
- Aggravation by or causing avoidance of routine physical activity (e.g., walking, climbing stairs)
- D: During the headache, at least 1 of the following:
- Nausea or vomiting
- Photophobia and phonophobia, which may be inferred from behavior
- E: Not attributable to another disorder.
*The ICHD-3 classification notes that migraine headache in children and adolescents (aged under 18 years) is more often bilateral than is the case in adults; unilateral pain usually emerges in late adolescence or early adult life. Migraine headache is usually frontotemporal. Occipital headache in children is rare and calls for diagnostic caution.
Migraine with aura[3]
- A: At least 2 attacks fulfilling the criteria B and C
- B: 1 or more of the following fully reversible aura symptoms**:
- 1. Visual
- 2. Sensory
- 3. Speech and/or language
- 4. Motor
- 5. Brainstem
- 6. Retinal
- C: At least 3 of the following 6 characteristics:
- 1. At least 1 aura symptom spreads gradually over 5 minutes
- 2. Two or more aura symptoms occur in succession
- 3. Each individual aura symptom lasts 5-60 minutes
- 4. At least 1 aura symptom is unilateral
- 5. At least 1 aura symptom is positive
- 6. The aura is accompanied, or followed within 60 minutes, by headache
- D: Not attributable to another disorder.
**The ICHD-3 classification notes that in children and adolescents, less typical bilateral visual symptoms occur that may represent an aura.
Citations
Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (IHS). The international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition. Cephalalgia. 2018 Jan;38(1):1-211.[Abstract][Full Text]
American College of Radiology. ACR Appropriateness Criteria®: headache-child. 2017 [internet publication].[Abstract][Full Text]
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Headaches in over 12s: diagnosis and management. Jun 2025 [internet publication].[Full Text]
Lewis DW, Ashwal S, Dahl G, et al. Practice parameter: evaluation of children and adolescents with recurrent headaches: report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and the Practice Committee of the Child Neurology Society. Neurology. 2002 Aug 27;59(4):490-8.[Abstract][Full Text]
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