The Impact of Social Anxiety on Adolescents Diagnosed With Primary Headache: A Case-control Study

This case-control study will examine whether adolescents aged 12-18 years with a diagnosis of primary headache are more likely to experience elevated social anxiety compared to matched healthy controls. Social anxiety will be assessed using the SAS-A, and the study will also explore whether environmental and sociodemographic factors such as tobacco smoke exposure, BMI, and parental education influence this relationship.

The study will include adolescents aged 12-18 years who have been diagnosed with primary headachebased on the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (ICHD-3). The main exposure ofinterest will be the presence and severity of social anxiety, which will be measured using the Social AnxietyScale for Adolescents (SAS-A), a validated self-report questionnaire. The SAS-A takes approximately 10minutes to complete. Additional variables that will be collected will include sociodemographiccharacteristics, BMI, parental education levels, income status, parental smoking habits, and theadolescent's exposure to secondhand and thirdhand tobacco smoke. All assessments, includingquestionnaires and physical measurements (height and weight), are expected to be completed inapproximately 20 minutes per participant. The total observation duration for each participant will be about30 minutes.