Psychophysiological reactivity in pediatric migraine patients and healthy controls.

The hypothesis that physiological responses of migraine patients are symptom-specific was evaluated in 29 children (age range 8-16 years) suffering from migraine and 10 healthy control children. The assessment included two major stress phases and a relaxation period. A standard laboratory stressor (a subtraction task) and parent-child conflict served as stressors. A total of six physiological parameters were measured: pulse amplitude at two extracranial (A. temporalis, A. supraorbitalis) and one peripheral (index finger) sites; finger temperature; heart rate; and skin-conductance level. There were no significant group differences in autonomic arousal. Moreover, extracranial and peripheral vasomotor activity was not different between groups, a finding which might be partially due to the considerable interindividual variability. The implications of the results are discussed taking into account that studying pediatric rather than adult migraine patients allows to minimize the potentially confounding impact of factors such as headache chronicity, medication, and additional nonmigraine headaches.