Acceptance of preventive treatment in migraine patients: Results of a survey

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of patients attending the evaluation consultation.

Table I. Comparison between migraine patients who did not and those who did start preventive treatment.

	Evaluation consultation, but did not start preventive treatment (n = 43)	Evaluation consultation and started preventive treatment (n = 32)	P-value
Female (%)	88.1	93.8	0.41
Age in years	47.1 (10.4)	49.2 (11.3)	0.42
Number of triptans per month	3.6 (1.8)	6.8 (4.4)	0.00
Number of consultations for headache last year	0.43 (0.80)	0.45 (0.78)	0.94
HIT-6 score	61.2 (5.2)	62.8 (3.4)	0.14
K10 score	18.6 (5.8)	20.9 (6.3)	0.11
Number of attacks per month^a	3.2 (1.3)	3.8 (1.6)	0.12
Headache days^b	3.8 (2.1)	4.9 (4.4)	0.20
Paid work (hours per week)	21.4 (15.4)	18.0 (16.7)	0.36
Absence from work (days per month)	1.1 (0.6)	1.0 (1.4)	0.88

Numbers are means (SD) unless stated otherwise.

^aAttacks of maximum 72 h, attacks recurring within 24 h are considered as a recurrence of the earlier attack.

^bDays with at least four hours of headache.

Figure 2. Flowchart of the questionnaires completed by migraine patients.

Table II. Reasons given by migraine patients (n = 31) and general practitioners (GPs) (regarding 33 patients) for not discussing, or having discussed but not starting, preventive migraine treatment.

	Patients		General practitioners
	Not discussed n = 18 (%)	Not started n = 13 (%)	Not discussed n = 8 (%)	Not started n = 25 (%)
Reasons for both patient and GP
Negative attitude towards drugs in general	1 (5.3)	5 (14.3)^a	0 (0)	0 (0)
Possible adverse effects	1 (5.4)	5 (14.3)^a	0 (0)	2 (5.0)
Migraine attacks not severe enough	3 (15.8)	5 (14.3)^a	0 (0)	6 (15.0)
Attack treatment could be improved	2 (10.5)	2 (5.7)	2 (20.0)	3 (7.5)
Influence of migraine on daily life acceptable	3 (15.8)	5 (14.3)^a	0 (0)	0 (0)
Expected to forget to take preventive treatment	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (10.0)	0 (0)
Tried preventive treatment in the past	4 (21.1)^a	5 (14.3)^a	0 (0)	2 (5.0)
Did not expect effect of preventive treatment on severity or frequency of attacks	0 (0)	0 (0)	4 (40.0)^a	1 (2.5)
Want to try other treatment first	2 (10.5)	5 (14.3)^a	2 (20.0)	3 (7.5)
Otherwise, namely:
The attacks were not frequent enough	0 (0.0)	1 (2.9)	0 (0)	4 (10.0)
Decline of attack frequency after menopause	2 (10.5)	1 (2.9)	0 (0)	2 (5.0)
Reasons given only by patients
Did not expect to be able to function better	0 (0)	0 (0)	n/a	n/a
Makes me feel like I have a chronic illness	0 (0)	1 (2.9)	n/a	n/a
GP objected to preventive treatment	0 (0)	0 (0)	n/a	n/a
I thought the GP should raise the subject	1 (5.3)	n/a	n/a	n/a
Reasons given only by GPs
I thought the patient should raise the subject	n/a	n/a	0 (0)	0 (0)
Otherwise, namely:
Patient did not show up for consultation	n/a	n/a	1 (10.0)	0 (0)
Patient was content with treatment	n/a	n/a	0 (0)	8 (20.0)^a
Patient had objections about preventive therapy	n/a	n/a	0 (0)	8 (20.0)^a
Patient had doubts about the diagnosis	n/a	n/a	0 (0)	1 (2.5)
Total	19	35	10	40

Numbers between brackets indicate the percentage of respondents mentioning that particular reason.

^aAnswers most frequently given.

Figure 3. Flowchart of questionnaires completed by the general practitioners (GPs) regarding 33 migraine patients.