Objective: To estimate the prevalence of headache among adolescents in Northern Israel.

Methods: A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire was presented to 2,088 tenth grade students attending 19 high-schools in Northern Israel. Participants were Jews and Arabs (the latter including Muslim, Christians, and Druze) between the ages of 15-16. Parental and student consent was obtained from all participants.  The study was approved by the IRB of our institution.

Results: All 2088 questionnaires were returned although only 2019 were usable and analyzed. Arabs comprised 55% (1117) of the analyzed sample and Jews 45% (902). With regard to gender, 56% of participants were female. Of the Arab participants, 18.6% reported having frequent headaches (females 25.3%, males 9.1%, P<0.0001). In contrast 27.9% of Jewish participants reported having frequent headaches (girls 35.6%, boys 19% P<0.0001). Other somatic complaints such as abdominal pain, palpitations, disordered sleep and fatigue were more frequent (P<0.0001) in adolescents (Jews and Arabs, girls and boys) who suffered from headaches than in their peers who did not report having headaches.

Conclusions: Headache is a frequent complaint among adolescents in Northern Israel. Jewish adolescents reported having headaches more frequently than their Arab peers. Those who suffered from frequent headaches also reported significantly more somatic complaints than those adolescents not reporting headaches.