Child with Headache

Headache is a common complaint for which parents seek pediatrician’s consult. Headaches are seen in increasing frequency from 3 y of age onwards with peaks in older children and adolescents. In children, secondary headaches due to underlying etiologies are far more common than primary headaches due to migraine. Recognition of temporal pattern of headache along with focused neurological examination will help in narrowing down the etiology. The key goal in urgent care assessment is to identify children with underlying serious illnesses that require stabilization and urgent referral. For benign causes, symptomatic treatment with analgesics like paracetamol or ibuprofen would suffice initially, while identification of the underlying condition would lead to further appropriate management, particularly in primary headaches.