Daily Light Exposure Habits of Youth with Migraine and its Association with Headache Frequency
Carlyn Patterson Gentile1, Ryan Shah2, Blanca Marquez de Prado3, Nichelle Raj3, Christina Szperka1, Andrew Hershey4, Geoffrey Aguirre5
1Neurology and Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 2Jefferson Medical School, 3Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 4Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 5University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neurology
Objective:
To determine the feasibility of measuring daily light exposure with wearable light loggers in adolescents and young adults with migraine and explore the relationship between light exposure and migraine burden.
Background:
Over 80% of individuals with migraine experience photophobia, but it is unknown if this leads to light-avoidant behavior and how this impacts circadian biology. The technological development of wearable continuous light loggers allows for real-world data collection to address these questions.
Design/Methods:
Adolescents and young adults (15 – 21 years old) with migraine were recruited from a specialty pediatric headache clinic from November 2024 and March 2025. Each participant carried a chest-worn light logger and completed a text-based daily diary during a typical week. Melanopic equivalent daylight illuminance (mEDI) was derived from light logger measurements and used to calculate percent time spent within recommended light exposure levels for optimal circadian photo-entrainment during the day, 3 hours pre-bed, and night. To measure shifts in daily light exposure, 24-hour light exposure patterns of each participant were compared to the mean across participants.
Results:
Twenty adolescents and young adults with migraine (median age 17 years, 70% female) completed the study. Data completion rates were high (97.1% light logger and 100% daily diary compliance). Participants spent a mean of 15.1% of daylight hours exposed to at least the minimum recommended light levels, while they were more consistently under maximum recommended light levels 3 hours prior to bed (78.1%), and at night (99.1%). Participants whose light exposure was occurred later in the day reported a greater number of headache days (Rho = 0.66, p = 0.002) and migraine days (Rho = 0.60, p = 0.005) per month.
Conclusions:
Measuring daily light exposure is feasible and clinically relevant in populations with photophobia. The relationship between delayed daily light exposure and increased migraine burden warrants further study.
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