Abstract

Recurrent primary headache is the most frequent neurological symptom at school age and the most frequent manifestation of pain in childhood. Migraine is one of the most common causes of headache resulting in missed school days and interfering with other daily activities. Prevalence of migraine is 3～10% in children. Clinical features and diagnostic criteria of childhood migraine differ from those in adult. The children and adolescents have attacks of shorter duration and bilateral location. This review intended to give an outline of general characteristics of childhood migraine. 'Childhood episodic synd- rome that are commonly precursors of migraine' according to International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition(ICHD-II) includes cyclic vomiting, abdominal migraine, and benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood. The clinical features and diagnostic criteria were described respectively. Other unclassi- fied episodic syndromes were introduced also. Korean Journal of Headache 5(1):23-32, 2004