High Prevalence of Tiredness and Pain in Young Schoolchildren

Aims: This study presents the prevalence of tiredness, headache, stomach ache, and backache in young schoolchildren.

Methods: A randomized cluster sample of 1155 children from grade 0 to 6 (aged 6-13 years) in Umeå, a city in northern Sweden, completed a questionnaire.

Results: Tiredness was the most frequently reported complaint. One-third (31%) of the children felt tired at least once a week, when starting school in the morning, and 16% felt tired almost every day. Headache was the most commonly reported pain: 23% reported weekly recurrent headache and 9% had headache more than once a week. However, in the two lowest grades, stomach ache was more common than headache. The prevalence of weekly recurrent stomach ache was 19% while 8% experienced stomach ache more than once a week. Recurrent monthly backache was reported by 18% of the children, approximately half of them reporting weekly complaints. In general, the prevalence of complaints increased by grade. Headache and stomach ache were more prevalent among girls compared with boys, while no gender difference was seen for tiredness and backache.

Conclusions: This study shows that tiredness, headache, stomach ache, and backache are common also among young schoolchildren. The results suggest a need of preventive efforts addressing these complaints at early age.