How general practitioners treat migraine patients-evaluation of a headache guideline
Cephalalgia, 07/31/2012
Zielman R et al. – Migraine prophylactic medication and anti–emetics are underutilized in the primary care setting for migraine patients in the Netherlands, when compared to the general practitioners guideline. It is important to enhance the knowledge of general practitioners regarding the diagnosis of migraine, and to increase awareness of the headache guideline.
Methods- Migraine patients (age ≥18 years) who visited the neurology outpatient clinic for the first time were included.
- Migraine characteristics and pharmacological status were collected retrospectively for each patient from the general practitioner's referral letter, hospital record and a headache characteristics questionnaire.
- A total of 420 migraine patients were included.
- Only 18.3% of the patients with two or more migraine attacks per month were using prophylactic medication.
- Furthermore, only 11.7% of patients with symptoms of nausea and/or vomiting were using anti–emetic medication.
- More than half of patients (51.7%) were using triptans and were likely to have typical migraine symptoms and a long history of migraine.
