ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
The use of electronic devices as entertainment and recreation means has directly affected adolescents’ lives; however their excessive use may bring consequences. This study aimed at observing the prevalence of primary headaches and their possible association with excessive use of computers among adolescents.
METHODS:
Participated in the study 262 teenagers aged between 14 and 19 years, students of a public school, who have answered a questionnaire to evaluate socio-demographic variables, data on computer use, presence of headache symptoms and level of physical activity. Multiple models of binary and multinomial logistic regression were used to evaluate the association among variables. Significance level was 5%.
RESULTS:
Prevalence of headache was 87.8%. There has been no significant difference in the prevalence of headache between genders, but among classification types, tension headache was more prevalent among females (35.4%). Females aged between 12 and 15 years and excessive computer use had higher chances of reporting headache. Females have 15.61 times more chance of reporting tension headache. Adolescents reporting excessive computer use had 2.54 times more chance of reporting migraine.
CONCLUSION:
Results have shown high prevalence of primary headache among adolescents, being migraine the most prevalent type. Abusive computer use were considered risk factors for the development of headache.
Keywords:
Adolescent; Computer; Headache; Information technology