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Self‐medication of regular headache: a community pharmacy‐based survey
Author(s) -
Mehuys E.,
Paemeleire K.,
Van Hees T.,
Christiaens T.,
Van Bortel L. M.,
Van Tongelen I.,
De Bolle L.,
Remon J.P.,
Boussery K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2012.03681.x
Subject(s) - medicine , triptans , migraine , rizatriptan , pharmacy , population , community pharmacy , physical therapy , referral , analgesic , observational study , pediatrics , anesthesia , family medicine , sumatriptan , receptor , environmental health , agonist
Background: This observational community pharmacy‐based study aimed to investigate headache characteristics and medication use of persons with regular headache presenting for self‐medication. Methods: Participants ( n = 1205) completed (i) a questionnaire to assess current headache medication and previous physician diagnosis, (ii) the ID Migraine Screener (ID‐M), and (iii) the Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire. Results: Forty‐four percentage of the study population ( n = 528) did not have a physician diagnosis of their headache, and 225 of them (225/528, 42.6%) were found to be ID‐M positive. The most commonly used acute headache drugs were paracetamol (used by 62% of the study population), NSAIDs (39%), and combination analgesics (36%). Only 12% of patients physician‐diagnosed with migraine used prophylactic migraine medication, and 25% used triptans. About 24% of our sample ( n = 292) chronically overused acute medication, which was combination analgesic overuse ( n = 166), simple analgesic overuse ( n = 130), triptan overuse ( n = 19), ergot overuse ( n = 6), and opioid overuse ( n = 5). Only 14.5% was ever advised to limit intake frequency of acute headache treatments. Conclusions: This study identified underdiagnosis of migraine, low use of migraine prophylaxis and triptans, and high prevalence of medication overuse amongst subjects seeking self‐medication for regular headache. Community pharmacists have a strategic position in education and referral of these self‐medicating headache patients.