Migraine, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and screen time in children attending a Sri Lankan tertiary care facility: are they associated?

Background: Headache and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are two relatively common, neuropsychiatric conditions seen in children. Recent studies have shown an association between these two disorders, which are otherwise distinct conditions. This study aims to assess the association between migraine and ADHD, as well as the association between screen-time and these two conditions, among children attending a Sri Lankan tertiary care facility. Possible associations will have important implications in the clinical management of these conditions.
Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study of 226 children aged 5-14 years, attending clinics at a tertiary care hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka. Of them, 141 had a diagnosis of migraine and 85 did not have migraine. The presence or absence of ADHD and the use of screen-time among the two groups was analysed. Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess the associations between these variables.
Results: Approximately 5% of the children with migraine had clinically diagnosed ADHD, compared to 3.5% of those without migraine (p = 0.862). The median SNAP-IV scores (inter-quartile range) of the children with migraine and without migraine were 0.60 (0.27-1.00) and 0.44 (0.16-0.80) respectively (p = 0.014). There was no significant difference in screen-time hours per day between children with and without clinically diagnosed ADHD. However, a significant difference in median screen-time (hours per day) was observed between children with and without migraine (2.0 h and 1.0 h respectively; p = 0.012).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with migraine are more likely to show features of hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattentiveness than those without migraine. While no association was found between clinically diagnosed ADHD and screen-time, migraine was associated with longer daily screen use. Screening for ADHD in children diagnosed with migraine may be of benefit. Further studies are required to understand the possible benefits of reducing screen-time in children with migraine.