Disability, Quality of Life, and Pain Coping in Pediatric Migraine: An Observational Study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to examine the relationship between disability, health-related quality of life (HrQoL), and pain coping in pediatric migraineurs.

METHOD: Eighty-five patients with migraine were recruited from Pediatric Neurology clinics. Participants completed the Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment Scale, the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, the Pain Coping Questionnaire, and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Means were compared to published norms using t-tests. Spearman correlations and logistic regression were used to explore the relationships between the variables.

RESULTS: Mean HrQoL scores were lower than norms for controls and chronically ill pediatric patients ( P < .0001). Patients reported lower mean pain coping scores and higher mean pain catastrophizing scores than norms ( P < .0001). After controlling for age and sex, only the relationship between disability and HrQoL remained significant (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.86-0.95).

CONCLUSION: Pediatric patients with migraine report lower HrQoL, fewer pain coping strategies and more catastrophizing than controls, while disability is inversely associated with HrQoL.