Imaging Utilization in Children With Headaches: Current Status and Opportunities for Improvement

Background: Despite a variety of evidence-based guidelines documents, imaging is anecdotally commonly used in the setting of children with headaches, but the frequency of such imaging is unknown. We assessed the use of and estimated costs of imaging utilization in children with headaches at a pediatric hospital.

Materials and methods: Retrospectively reviewing charts of all relevant imaging examinations in 2015, we focused on radiology reports with indications containing the terms "headache" or "migraine" and excluded patients who fulfilled evidence-based criteria in support of obtaining imaging. All radiology results were recorded and categorized as normal, likely causative, possibly causative, or unlikely causative of headache. Societal costs were estimated using allowable Medicare fees, and losses of total facility time were estimated using scheduled examination slots.

Results: In 2015, 4,257 imaging studies were performed for indications of headache or migraine. Of these, 3,098 (73%) met our exclusion criteria, meaning they had appropriate indications, and 1,159 (27%) were presumably imaged outside of guideline recommendations. Overall, 19.8% (230 of 1,159) had diagnoses that were likely or potentially causative of headaches, and 71.2% (825 of 1,159) were normal. The remainder had findings unlikely to cause headaches. The total estimated societal cost of imaging studies for presumed primary headache imaging at our institution in 2015 was $322,422. The loss of imaging time was 845.3 hours.

Conclusion: Given the large number of normal examinations and the inappropriate use of radiography, imaging utilization in children with headaches can likely be improved. In addition to reducing ionizing radiation and the need for sedation, reductions in unnecessary imaging would result in societal cost savings and increase imaging capacity for other patients.