Jul 24, 2009 5:21 pm US/Mountain
New Study: Migraines Impact Education
Written for the Web by CBS4 Special Projects Producer Libby Smith
DENVER (CBS4) ―
A new study out of the University of Colorado Denver shows that teens who suffer migraine headaches suffer in school too. Economics professor, Daniel Rees, along with Joseph Sabia, professor of public policy at American University, conducted the study and found that those who suffer from migraines have lower high school grades, decreases in the likelihood of graduating high school, and lowered potential for going to college.
"Migraines strike about 1 out of 10 people in the U.S. so if we're talking about a 5 percent reduction of graduation from high school, 1 in 10 people in the U.S., that's a lot of people we're talking about here," Rees told CBS4.
Rees and Sabia analyzed data on sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They found that migraine headaches were associated with a five-percent decrease in high school GPA, a five-percent decrease in the likelihood of graduating from high school, and a 15-percent decrease in the likelihood of attending college. The professors feel this contributes greatly to the overall economic toll that migraines take on society.
"There are lots of studies out there that try to get at the cost of migraine headaches to society and what we're arguing is that cost should include their effect on education outcomes," Rees explained.
Kayla McGowan, 13, knows all to well the toll that migraine headaches can take.
"I've had a couple that I've had to go home that I was just crying because it hurt so badly," McGowan told CBS4.
She reports pain so bad and headaches so exhausting that she found it hard to concentrate on her school work and she ended up missing school days.
"Migraines are miserable, so if you get them during school you have to make-up stuff and that's no fun," she added.
"Well it makes sense that teens who suffer debilitating migraine headaches would not do so well in school ... the headaches are so painful they make you sensitive to light and sound. They can cause nausea and exhaustion. Not only do headaches disrupt an education but they can also cause a student to have long term problems such as getting into college or finding a good job," said CBS4 Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida.
McGowan is a good student and has every intension of going to college. She wants to be an orthodontist. Right now her parents are home schooling her, in part because of the migraines.
"I'm still learning how to tell when they're coming on and learning what my triggers are so later on when I know what those are I can track them and get used to them and stuff," McGowan said.
It's important to note, that the study only pertains to migraine headaches. The researchers found that regular old tension headaches have not baring on education at all.
"The key here is really making the proper diagnosis there are so many children and teens that are misdiagnosed with having say tension or sinus headaches when in fact they really are suffering from true migraines. And that distinction is very important since we now have special medications that fight and control migraines, but they don't work unless you give them to the patients who need them," Hnida added.
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