{"doi":"10.3390/life15101641","title":"Beyond the Pain: A Critical Examination of the Psychopathological and Neuropsychological Dimensions of Primary Headaches in Pediatric Populations","abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Primary headaches in children and adolescents impose emotional, cognitive, and functional burdens beyond pain. This review synthesizes their psychopathological and neuropsychological dimensions and outlines implications for assessment and care. Methods: We performed a comprehensive review with systematic searches of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase (2015–2025). We included observational/experimental studies and evidence syntheses on 0–18-year-olds with migraine, tension-type, or cluster headache; treatment-only reports were excluded. Results: Across population and clinic samples, primary headaches co-occur with elevated anxiety/depression, frequent ADHD/learning problems, and pervasive sleep disturbances with likely bidirectionality. Interictally, small to moderate neurocognitive differences are most consistent in attention/executive control, processing speed, and verbal memory. Quality of life and school participation are reduced. Standardized tools (e.g., PedMIDAS, PedsQL/KIDSCREEN, SDQ/CBCL, SDSC±actigraphy, NEPSY-II/BRIEF) support multidisciplinary assessment. Conclusions: Care should look beyond pain counts, integrating routine screening of mood, sleep, and cognition; active family involvement; and school–healthcare coordination within stepped-care pathways (education and sleep hygiene for all; targeted CBT for catastrophizing/avoidance) with monitoring that pairs headache frequency with functional outcomes.</jats:p>","journal":"Life","year":2025,"id":609351,"datarank":0.20794415416798362,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"self_citation_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.20794415416798362,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1566155,"name":"Valentina Nicolardi","orcid":"0000-0002-7697-7294","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1566156,"name":"Camilla Ferrante","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1566157,"name":"Giorgia Carlucci","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1566158,"name":"Sara Scoditti","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1566159,"name":"Antonio Trabacca","orcid":"0000-0003-3165-0105","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1566153,"name":"Giuseppe Accogli","orcid":"0000-0003-4351-7395","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Beyond the Pain: A Critical Examination of the Psychopathological and Neuropsychological Dimensions of Primary Headaches in Pediatric Populations","abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Primary headaches in children and adolescents impose emotional, cognitive, and functional burdens beyond pain. This review synthesizes their psychopathological and neuropsychological dimensions and outlines implications for assessment and care. Methods: We performed a comprehensive review with systematic searches of PubMed, Scopus, and Embase (2015–2025). We included observational/experimental studies and evidence syntheses on 0–18-year-olds with migraine, tension-type, or cluster headache; treatment-only reports were excluded. Results: Across population and clinic samples, primary headaches co-occur with elevated anxiety/depression, frequent ADHD/learning problems, and pervasive sleep disturbances with likely bidirectionality. Interictally, small to moderate neurocognitive differences are most consistent in attention/executive control, processing speed, and verbal memory. Quality of life and school participation are reduced. Standardized tools (e.g., PedMIDAS, PedsQL/KIDSCREEN, SDQ/CBCL, SDSC±actigraphy, NEPSY-II/BRIEF) support multidisciplinary assessment. Conclusions: Care should look beyond pain counts, integrating routine screening of mood, sleep, and cognition; active family involvement; and school–healthcare coordination within stepped-care pathways (education and sleep hygiene for all; targeted CBT for catastrophizing/avoidance) with monitoring that pairs headache frequency with functional outcomes.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":1.3862943611198906,"endowment":1.3862943611198906,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"41157313","pmcid":"PMC12565120","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4415402877","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Biomedical research of the Italian Health Ministry—Ricerca Corrente Program—2025","grant_id":"2025","title":null}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":2.4373,"citation_percentile":0.9007439,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":2}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/10/1641/pdf?version=1761055007","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/10/1641/pdf?version=1761055007","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/10/1641/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3390/life15101641","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41157313","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/ce6bd4c834a14b7d9bc5c42b4a97964b","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12565120","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12565120","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12565120?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Migraine and Headache Studies","Sympathectomy and Hyperhidrosis Treatments","Pediatric Pain Management Techniques"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Neurocognitive","Psychopathology","Headaches","Neuropsychology","Primary headache","Population","Quality of life (healthcare)","Sleep hygiene","Quality of life","Pediatric","Neurocognitive Functioning","Primary Headaches"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-31T06:39:07.863239Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}