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Headache and Obesity in the Pediatric Population

  • Childhood and Adolescent Headache (S Evers, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Childhood obesity and headache are both significant health concerns that often have a marked impact both personally and socially, that if not addressed can carry over into adulthood. For many individuals, these effects may be magnified when obesity and headache are seen in conjunction. It is this overlap between obesity and headache in children, as well as similarities in the known mechanism of action for feeding and headache, which led to a suspected association between the two. Unfortunately, although recent studies have supported this association, only a limited number have been conducted to directly address this. Furthermore, despite rising rates of childhood obesity and headache, the associated medical comorbidities, and the significant financial cost for these conditions, there is a relative void in studies investigating treatment options that address both underlying conditions of obesity and headache in children.

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Acknowledgments

The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or U.S. Government.

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Conflict of Interest

Christopher B. Oakley is a consultant for the British Medical Journal, and received honoraria from Southwest Florida Pediatric Conference and travel/accommodations expenses covered or reimbursed by Southwest Florida Pediatric Conference and All Children’s Hospital-Tampa/; St. Petersburg, Florida. Ann I. Scher is a consultant for Allergan, and Scher received grants from DoD (DMRDP, CNRM, CNP) and honoraria from Headache Cooperative of the Pacific. Ana Recober was a one-time consultant and had travel/accommodations expenses covered or reimbursed by Allergan. B. Lee Peterlin received grants from NIH/NINDS (#K23-NS078345), Landenberger Foundation, GSK, and Luitpold Pharmaceuticals.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, JHUSOM Headache Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 4940 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Christopher B. Oakley & B. Lee Peterlin

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Ann I. Scher

  3. Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Ana Recober

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  1. Christopher B. Oakley
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  2. Ann I. Scher
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  3. Ana Recober
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  4. B. Lee Peterlin
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Correspondence to B. Lee Peterlin.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Childhood and Adolescent Headache

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Oakley, C.B., Scher, A.I., Recober, A. et al. Headache and Obesity in the Pediatric Population. Curr Pain Headache Rep 18, 416 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-014-0416-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-014-0416-5

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