Migraine-associated symptoms change with improvement in youth with migraine: A cohort study.

Aim: To determine how migraine-associated symptoms change over time, and if they are predictive of outcome at first follow-up visit. Symptoms associated with headache-photophobia and phonophobia, nausea, and/or vomiting-are required criteria for the diagnosis of migraine. Individuals with migraine also report high rates of other symptoms (e.g. lightheadedness, difficulty thinking). We have developed cluster analysis of migraine-associated symptoms (CAMS), which is a composite representation of an expanded set of migraine-associated symptoms that is associated with headache burden. It is unknown if CAMS can change with treatment response or predict outcomes. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of prospectively collected clinician-guided patient questionnaire data from youth (6-17 years) with migraine who were seen at a specialized pediatric headache clinic. Data were collected at time of presentation and at the first follow-up within 30 to 90 days from the first visit. CAMS were implemented to assess associations between 11 migraine-associated symptoms. We determined if CAMS changed over time and as a function of treatment outcome, and if CAMS could be used to predict outcome at first follow-up. Results: Youth with migraine ( Conclusion: Migraine-associated symptoms as captured by CAMS changed over time based on whether youth noted improvement or not but was not predictive of who improved at follow-up.