The prevalence of migraine increases with age. It affects about three percent of children between the ages of three and eight and can affect as many as 19 percent of children at the beginning of adolescence. A migraine occurs in equal proportions of males and females before puberty but predominately affects females after puberty. It is believed by many to be genetic. In fact scientists have mapped a gene to a specific chromosome in some migraine patients.
Migraines are episodic headaches that are severe.
Migraines can be totally debilitating leaving patients unable to work, walk, or go to school. It is also commonly associated with sensitivity to light and sound. In previous adolescent migraine clinical trials, no medications have proven effective at relieving symptoms. Researchers studied the effectiveness of sumatriptan nasal spray in nearly 700 adolescents in the United States between the ages of 12 and 17 years. The spray has already shown to be effective in treating adults with rapid onset migraine.