High School Start Time and Teen Migraine Frequency

Overview

Migraine is common in adolescents and can cause missed school and disability. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that high schools start no earlier than 8:30 AM in order to accommodate the physiologic needs of adolescents-whose brains naturally want to fall asleep later and wake up later and who still need to get at least 8 hours of sleep per night to function optimally-however, only about 18% of US high schools comply with this AAP recommendation. There is a relationship between adequate sleep and migraine. The investigators aim to determine whether high school students with migraine who attend high schools that comply with this AAP recommendation have lower migraine frequency than those that do not. If so, it would argue for advocating for changes in high school policy to optimize health of adolescents with migraine.

Study design: This is an observational study of high-school students in the U.S. who have migraine and who attend a standard high school (i.e. are not home schooled or online schooled). They will complete a one-time online survey answering questions about their headaches and their schedule--particularly schedule aspects related to school and sleep.

Conditions

Interventions