Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
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Meta Analysis
Age comparisons in acquiring biofeedback control and success in reducing headache pain.
This article presents a review and archival analysis to assess age differences in acquiring biofeedback control and success in treating recurrent headache by using data from 56 studies with either adult (total N = 503) or child (total N = 98) subjects. All studies focused on treating headache with temperature biofeedback (TBF) or electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback. To standardize the varied measures across studies, we calculated each study's percent change scores for biofeedback performance and headache activity. ⋯ Further analyses revealed two additional findings. First, biofeedback control and headache improvement were strongly correlated. Second, headache activity continued to decrease in the weeks following treatment, and this decrease was significantly greater for children than adults.