Headache in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease and after Kidney Transplantation - A comparative study
2Institute of Nephrology and Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel and Sackler Faculty of Medicine
Aim: This study compared prevalence and characteristics of headaches between pediatric patients with chronic kidney disease and pediatric patients with transplanted kidneys; and aimed to identify factors associated with headaches in the entire cohort.
Methods: We interviewed children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease and transplanted kidneys, regarding the prevalence of headaches and their characteristics. We reviewed hospital charts for medical history, blood test results and pharmacologic treatment.
Results: Eighty-seven patients were enrolled: 41 with chronic kidney disease and 46 with transplanted kidneys (mean age 12.4 ± 4.9 years). Twenty-two (25.3%) reported experiencing headaches. The prevalence was greater among those with chronic kidney disease than among those after kidney transplant: 36.6% vs 15.2%, p=0.03. For the entire cohort, headache, mostly migraine, was associated with lower glomerular filtration, higher phosphate level and a higher, though not statistically significant, urea level.
Conclusions: In a pediatric population, headaches were less prevalent among patients after kidney transplantation than among patients with chronic kidney disease. Headache was associated with a lower glomerular filtration rate, a higher phosphate level and a higher level, though without statistical significance, of urea. The lower headache rate after kidney transplantation may be related to improvement in homeostasis and electrolyte balance.