1. Poor patient awareness and frequent misdiagnosis of migraine: findings from a large transcontinental cohort
- Author
-
C. Bordini, Giorgio Sandrini, V. Maffey, S. Odobescu, Filippo Brighina, E. Chiriac, Michele Alessiani, Grazia Sances, V. Di Piero, R. Iannacchero, Alejandro Marfil, M. E. Jurno, Barbara Petolicchio, N. Barrientos Uribe, M. D. L. Figuerola, Chiara Lupi, Silvia Benemei, Pierangelo Geppetti, C. Pérez Lago, Michele Viana, G. Nappi, Ferdinando Maggioni, Cristina Tassorelli, Franco Lucchese, F. Khaliq, Chiara Zecca, Viana, M, Khaliq, F, Zecca, C, Figuerola, M D L, Sances, G, Di Piero, V, Petolicchio, B, Alessiani, M, Geppetti, P, Lupi, C, Benemei, S, Iannacchero, R, Maggioni, F, Jurno, M E, Odobescu, S, Chiriac, E, Marfil, A, Brighina, F, Barrientos Uribe, N, Pérez Lago, C, Bordini, C, Lucchese, F, Maffey, V, Nappi, G, Sandrini, G, and Tassorelli, C
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ,Tension headache ,Migraine Disorders ,Population ,cervical ,error ,exam ,headache ,management ,misdiagnosis ,treatment ,underdiagnosis ,misdiagnosi ,Cohort Studies ,Diagnosis, Differential ,03 medical and health sciences ,Indirect costs ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Physicians ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Medical diagnosis ,Diagnostic Errors ,Sinusitis ,education ,Aged ,education.field_of_study ,business.industry ,Headache ,Brain ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Neurology ,Migraine ,Cohort ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,business ,Patient awareness ,Tomography, X-Ray Computed ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Background and purpose Although migraine is the second most disabling condition worldwide, there is poor awareness of it. The objective was to assess the awareness of migraine and previous diagnostic and therapeutic consultations and treatments in a large international population of migraineurs. Methods This was a multicentre study conducted in 12 headache centres in seven countries. Each centre recruited up to 100 patients referred for a first visit and diagnosed with migraine. Subjects were given a structured clinical questionnaire-based interview about the perceptions of the type of headache they suffered from, its cause, previous diagnoses, investigations and treatments. Results In all, 1161 patients completed the study. Twenty-eight per cent of participants were aware that they suffered from migraine. Sixty-four per cent called their migraine 'headache'; less commonly they used terms such as 'cervical pain' (4%), tension headache (3%) and sinusitis (1%). Eight per cent of general practitioners and 35% of specialists (of whom 51% were neurologists and/or headache specialists) consulted for migraine formulated the correct diagnosis. Before participating in the study, 50% of patients had undergone X-ray, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical spine and 76% underwent brain and/or cervical spine imaging for migraine. Twenty-eight per cent of patients had received symptomatic migraine-specific medications and 29% at least one migraine preventive medication. Conclusions Although migraine is a very common disease, poor awareness of it amongst patients and physicians is still an issue in several countries. This highlights the importance of the promotion of migraine awareness to reduce its burden and limit direct and indirect costs and the risk of exposure to useless investigations.
- Published
- 2019