25 Jan 2010, 1505 hrs IST

People with chronic headaches are not wrong when they say weather changes trigger their pains, for a new study has proven just that.

In a study of 25 children and teenagers with migraines or chronic tension-type headaches, researchers found that symptoms tended to flare up on days when it rained or when humidity was higher than normal.

Overall, study participants were nearly three times more likely to have a headache when it was raining or humidity was higher than average, compared with drier conditions, reports The China Daily.

People who suffer migraines or other types of debilitating headaches commonly cite weather changes as one of the triggers, but studies have revealed conflicting conclusions.

For the current study, researchers gave children handheld computers to record their headache symptoms in "real time" over two weeks.

They then compared that information with weather data the researchers gathered using weather-tracking software.

According to the researchers, led by Dr. Mark Connelly of Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Missouri, this is an improvement over most past studies, which have used less- precise methods.

Overall, the researchers found that during periods of rain, kids in their study had a 59 percent probability of reporting headache symptoms, compared with a 21 percent probability at rain-free times.

Similarly, the odds of headache symptoms were 58 percent when humidity was higher than average, as against 22 percent when humidity levels were average.

"Results of the present study lend some support to the belief commonly held by children with recurrent headaches that weather changes may contribute to headache onset," wrote the researchers.

Exactly why rain and humidity would trigger headaches in some children is not clear.

And the finding so not mean that other weather variables are unimportant.

The study has been published in the journal Headache.

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