Highlights:
- A retrospective chart review analyzed over 3,400 pediatric migraine consultations in which vitamin deficiencies were investigated.
- As the population ages, the incidence of vitamin deficiencies and disorders has increased.
SAN DIEGO — Measuring serum vitamin levels in children with migraines should be part of symptom management, especially for older adolescents, according to speakers at the American Headache Society annual scientific meeting.
“The work I’ve been doing at Children’s Hospital this year has been looking at vitamin deficiencies and how they affect headache outcomes.” Paul Gong, MD A headache fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHC) said in a presentation:
Gong and colleagues sought to investigate this potential causal relationship in a cohort of pediatric patients seen at CCHC between January 1998 and June 2023.
Their retrospective chart review identified 3,430 new patient visits (75% girls) where serum vitamin D, riboflavin, folate, and/or coenzyme Q10 were collected at the time of presentation within these parameters.
Based on the extraction results, vitamin deficiencies were determined by low-level cutoff values (vitamin D < 30 ng/ml, riboflavin < 10 nmol/L, folate < 20 ng/ml, coenzyme Q10 < 0.7 mcg/mL), and patients were then classified into one of five groups based on the deficiency number (0–5).
The primary outcome was to determine differences in monthly headache frequency and disability, as measured by Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment (PedMIDAS) scores, between each deficit group.
Of the five groups, 184 (5.4%) had no defects recorded, 830 (24.2%) had one defect recorded, 1,234 (36%) had two defects recorded, 898 (26%) had three defects recorded, and the remaining 284 (8.3%) had four defects recorded.
When comparing multiple vitamin deficiency groups, no statistically significant differences were found in headache frequency per month or PedMIDAS scores.
The researchers further found that vitamin deficiencies alone or in combination were not associated with statistically significant differences in either participants’ age, frequency of headaches per month, or PedMIDAS scores.
However, based on serum vitamin concentrations taken at the patient’s first visit, multiple vitamin deficiencies were associated with worse disability as measured by PedMIDAS compared with patients with only one vitamin deficiency.
Moreover, Gong and his colleagues observed a dual trend of increasing vitamin deficiencies and worsening monthly headache frequency with increasing age.
“We also have follow-up data on many of these patients, so the next step is to look at their response to supplements,” Gong said.
