Back to List

Title:

Author:
Date:
Source:

Can Migraineurs Accurately Identify Their Headaches
as "Migraine" at Attack Onset?
Ng-Mak DS, Cady R, et al.
Posted: June 2007  
Headache 2007;47:645-653

Background:   While treating migraine early when the headache is mild is believed to link to improved treatment outcomes, it is not clear whether patients can correctly self-identify a headache as a migraine at onset in real-world settings.

Objective:   This study aims to assess the likelihood that patients can correctly self-identify a headache as a migraine at onset, and to evaluate cues that patients use to correctly identify migraine attacks.

Methods:   Adult migraineurs were recruited from 14 headache clinics across the United States. Patients recorded their headache experiences via an electronic diary daily over a period of 30 days. On days when they experienced headaches, patients were asked to recall the types of headache they experienced at both onset and peak. Patients also identified cues for deciding whether the headache was a migraine or not. Using identification of migraine at headache peak as the criterion, we examined the sensitivity and specificity of migraine identification on onset.

Conclusions:   Most migraineurs in tertiary care settings can correctly self-identify a headache as a migraine at onset. Factors such as headache severity, presence of nausea, visual disturbance, sensitivity to light, and no tension-type headache, appeared to augment the correct identification.