Introduction:

Primary headache  is a common though under-diagnosed entity in childhood. Pathophysiology of this entity remains enigmatic as of today.Neurocognitive aspects may have a strong role to play in the occurrence and therapeutic response of childhood headache. There is a limited body of evidence pertaining to the neurocogntive profile of children with primary headache (1).P 300 is a neurophysiological test to assess cognition. Our current study formulated in this backdrop.

Objectives:

To find the difference in P 300 scores between children with primary headache and their  age and sex matched healthy controls(Primary )

To study the neurobehavioural profile of children with primary headache with the help of IQ and VSMS scores (Secondary )

Methods:

Study design: Case-control,observational  Settings: Tertiary-care hospital

Duration: 01 year ; Sample-size : 60 (30+30)

Inclusion-criteria:

Cases : Children (6-12 yrs) with primary headache  brought to above hospital.

Controls:Healthy age,sex-matched children .

Exclusion-criteria: Intellectual disability,autism spectrum disorder.

Institutional ethical clearance taken.  Parental consent obtained.

P300 recorded using scalp electrodes and auditory stimuli.

IQ and VSMS scoring  done .

Data recorded. Appropriate statistical analysis at conclusion using SPSS 20 (IBM Corp)

Results:

(Preliminary)

Screened: 18; Included: 10(Cases).Additional 10 (controls ).

No difference in  mean P300 scores  between cases and controls.

Expected: significant difference in P300 scores between cases and controls.

Conclusion:

Cognitive processing and neurobehavioural profile  are key grey-areas in primary headache  that need to be evaluated.

Learning points:

1. Role of P300 in childhood primary headache.

2. Neurobehavioural profile in childhood primary headache.

Ref

Dick BD,RiddellRP. Cognitive and school functioning in children and adolescents with chronic pain: A critical review. Pain Res Manag 2010; 15(4): 238–244.