High School Start Time and Teen Migraine Frequency

High School Start Time and Adolescent Migraine Frequency

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 Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Migraine
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: High School start time

Detailed Description

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.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 256

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94158
      • University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

U.S. High school students with migraine

Description

Inclusion criteria:

1. Live in the U.S.
2. In 9th-12th grade
3. Attends a high school that is outside of the home (i.e. not home-schooled or online schooled)
4. High school has a consistent start time all 5 days of the week
5. Has migraine by International Classification of Headache Disorders criteria
6. Can read and write in English

Exclusion criteria: NA

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
School start time 8:30 AM or later; These are high schoolers with migraine who attend a school that begins at 8:30 AM or later (i.e. follows AAP recommendation re: high school start time).	Other: High School start time; The time that the school starts
School start time earlier than 8:30; These are high schoolers with migraine who attend a school that begins earlier than 8:30 AM (i.e. does not follow AAP recommendation re: high school start time).	Other: High School start time; The time that the school starts

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Headache days per month	How many headache days experienced in the last month	Last 30 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Hours of sleep on typical school night	Respondent's estimate of hours of sleep on a typical school night	Last 30 days
Typical bedtime on school night	Respondent's estimate of typical bedtime on school night	Last 30 days
Typical wake up time on a school day	Respondent's estimate of typical wakeup time on a school day	Last 30 days
Number of missed breakfasts in a typical school week	Respondent's estimate of how many times they miss breakfast in a typical school week	Last 30 days
Acute headache medication days per month	How many days per month respondent uses acute headache medication	Last 30 days
PedMIDAS (Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment Scale)	Headache related disability score--Total score ranges from 0-246	Last 90 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Amy A Gelfand, MD, University of California, San Francisco

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Gelfand AA, Pavitt S, Greene K, Szperka CL, Irwin S, Grimes B, Allen IE. High School Start Time and Migraine Frequency in High School Students. Headache. 2019 Jul;59(7):1024-1031. doi: 10.1111/head.13535. Epub 2019 Apr 24.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 15, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): October 15, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 11, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 4, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): December 6, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 3, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 2, 2024
• Last Verified: December 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Headache Disorders, Primary; Headache Disorders; Migraine Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: High School Start Time Study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No