Relationship between headache and Internet addiction in children

Abstract

Background/aim: We aimed to investigate Internet addiction in pediatric patients with migraine- and tension-type headache in this study. Materials and methods: Among our 200 subjects, 103 had migraine-type headache and 97 had tension-type headache. Results: Headache triggered by computer use was more common in the migraine-type headache group. There was no difference between the Internet addiction scale score of the two groups. The Internet addiction scale scores of the patients were found to differ depending on the aim and duration of computer use. Internet addiction was found in six (6%) patients. Internet addiction prevalence was 3.7% and 8.5% in the two groups, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of Internet addiction in children with recurrent headache was lower than that found in their peers in Turkey, possibly due to avoidance of computer use as a headache trigger. This finding raises the question of whether migraine- or tension-type headaches actually prevent Internet addiction.