A dramatic increase in the number of outpatients with migraine after the opening of a headache clinic

We opened a headache clinic in September 2001. The number of outpatients with headache visiting our clinic from September 2001 to April 2002 increased about 4 times more, compared with the number during the same period in the previous year. In those two periods, the percentage of patients with tention-type headache in patients among headaches of all types decreased from 60% to 51%, but those with migraine dramatically increased from 8% to 35%. These data suggest that many patients with migraine refrain from consulting physicians, and we examined the reason with a questionnaire including questions on headache characteristics, usual medication for headache and motives of visiting our clinic. The results of this survey indicate that many patients with migraine wish to be treated for their headache, but they cannot consult for lack of information about the location of the clinic that treats the patients with headache, or they cannot receive the diagnosis of migraine and satisfactory treatments from the primary care physicians.

頭痛専門外来

片頭痛

本文データは山口大学医学会の許諾に基づきCiNiiから複製したものである