The aim of this study was to asses the clinical features, pattern of healthcare and drug utilization of migraine patients attending 10 Italian headache centres (HC). Migraine is underdiagnosed and undertreated everywhere throughout the world, despite its considerable burden. Migraine sufferers often deal with their problem alone using self-prescribing drugs, whereas triptans are used by a small proportion of patients. All patients attending for the first time 10 Italian HCs over a 3-month period were screened for migraine. Migraine patients underwent a structured direct interview about previous migraine diagnosis, comorbidity, headache treatments and their side-effects and healthcare utilization for migraine. Patient satisfaction with their usual therapy for the migraine attack was evaluated with the Migraine-Assessment of Current Therapy (ACT) questionnaire. The quality of life of migraine patients was assessed by mean of Short Form (SF)-12 and Migraine-Specific Quality of life (MSQ) version 2.1 questionnaires. Of the 2675 patients who attended HCs for the first time during the study period, 71% received a diagnosis of migraine and the first 953 subjects completed the study out of 1025 patients enrolled. Only 26.8% of migraine patients had a previous diagnosis of migraine; 62.4% of them visited their general practitioner (GP) in the last year, 38.2% saw a specialist for headache, 23% attended an Emergency Department and 4.5% were admitted to hospital for migraine; 82.8% of patients used non-specific drugs for migraine attacks, whereas 17.2% used triptans and only 4.8% used a preventive migraine medication. Triptans were used by 46.4% of patients with a previous diagnosis of migraine. About 80% of migraine patients took over-the-counter medications. The Migraine-ACT revealed that 60% of patients needed a change in their treatment of migraine attacks, 85% of whom took non-specific drugs. Both the MSQ version 2.1 and the SF-12 questionnaires indicated a poor quality of life of most patients. Migraine represents the prevalent headache diagnosis in Italian HCs. Migraine is still underdiagnosed in Italy and migraine patients receive a suboptimal medical approach in our country, despite the healthcare utilization of migraine subjects being noteworthy. A cooperative network involving GPs, neurologists and headache specialists is strongly desirable in order to improve long-term migraine management in Italy.

Primary empty sella (PES) is a very frequent neuroradiological finding in the general population, that can induce hypopituitarism. Some studies focused on the association of PES with GH deficiency (GHD) or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH), while data regarding the involvement of hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis, despite sporadic reports of central hypothyroidism, or the occurrence of hypoadrenalism (HA) are scanty. In this study, thyroid function and TSH response to exogenous TRH injection (TRH/TSH) were investigated in 43 patients [10 men and 33 women; aged (mean +/- SD), 48+/-12 yr] with PES: 22 patients had total and 21 partial PES. Forty healthy subjects (9 men and 31 women; aged 46+/-12 yr) were enrolled as a control group. Central hypothyroidism was found only in 2/43 cases, whereas one patient showed primary hypothyroidism. In euthyroid patients, mean serum TSH levels were significantly lower than controls (TSH: 1.0+/-0.7 vs 1.4+/-0.6 mU/l, p<0.01) and 79% of them showed abnormal TRH/TSH responses (TRH test was performed in 34 euthyroid patients: 17 cases with total and 17 cases with partial PES), but mean serum free T4 (FT4) and free T3 (FT3) values were not significantly lower than controls (FT4: 15.9+/-0.4 vs 15.0+/-2.1 pmol/l, p=NS; FT3: 5.3+/-1.2 vs 5.8+/-1.5 pmol/l, p=NS). Moreover, no significant differences were evident in mean serum TSH, FT4 and FT3 between patients with total and partial PES (TSH: 1.1+/-0.7 vs 0.9+/-0.8 mU/l, p=NS; FT4: 16.3+/-2.6 vs 15.7+/-2.2 pmol/l, p=NS; FT3: 5.4+/-1.3 vs 5.2+/-0.8 pmol/l, p=NS) and the TRH/TSH peak was impaired or exaggerated/delayed in 9 and 3 patients with total and in 12 and 3 cases with partial PES. No significant differences in the prevalence of abnormal TRH/TSH responsiveness were found between patients with partial or total PES (chi2=1.6, p=NS). Other impairment of pituitary function was detected in 23/43 patients: GHD was present in 15 cases, HH in 11 and central HA in 5 patients. Isolated or combined hypopituitarism was present in 17 and in 6 patients, respectively. In conclusion, pituitary dysfunction is very frequent in patients with PES, but central hypothyroidism occurs rarely. The entity of arachnoid herniation into the sellar fossa does not play a significant role on the degree of HPT axis dysfunction.

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In the field of so-called chronic daily headache, it is not easy for migraine that worsens progressively until it becomes daily or almost daily to find a precise and universally recognized place within the current international headache classification systems. In line with the 2006 revision of the second edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-2R), the current prevailing opinion is that this headache type should be named chronic migraine (CM) and be characterized by the presence of at least 15 days of headache per month for at least 3 consecutive months, with headache having the same clinical features of migraine without aura for at least 8 of those 15 days. Based on much evidence, though, a CM with the above characteristics appears to be a heterogeneous entity and the obvious risk is that its definition may be extended to include a variety of different clinical entities. A proposal is advanced to consider CM a subtype of migraine without aura that is characterized by a high frequency of attacks (10–20 days of headache per month for at least 3 months) and is distinct from transformed migraine (TM), which in turn should be included in the classification as a complication of migraine. Therefore, CM should be removed from its current coding position in the ICHD-2 and be replaced by TM, which has more restrictive diagnostic criteria (at least 20 days of headache per month for at least 1 year, with no more than 5 consecutive days free of symptoms; same clinical features of migraine without aura for at least 10 of those 20 days).