Development and validation of a telephone classification interview for common chronic headache disorders

Abstract

BackgroundFor a trial of supportive self-management for people with chronic headache we needed to develop and validate a telephone classification interview that can be used by a non-headache specialist to classify common chronic headache types in primary care. We aimed to specifically: exclude secondary headaches other than medication overuse, exclude primary headache disorders other than migraine and tension type headache (TTH), distinguish between chronic migraine and chronic TTH, and identify medication overuse headache.MethodsWe held a headache classification consensus conference to draw on evidence and expertise to inform the content of a logic model underpinning the classification interview. Nurses trained to use the logic model did telephone classification interviews with participants recruited from primary care. Doctors specialising in headache did a second validation interview.ResultsTwenty-six delegates attended the headache classification conference including headache specialist doctors, nurses and lay representatives (with chronic headache). We trained six nurses to do the classification interviews and completed 107 paired interviews, median days between interviews was 32 days (interquartile range 21–48 days). We measured level of agreement between the nurse and doctor interviews using proportion of concordance, simple kappa and prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted kappa (PABAK). Proportion of concordance of agreement between nurse and doctor interviews was 0.76, simple kappa coefficient κ 0.31 (95% CI, 0.09 to 0.52), and PABAK 0.51 (95% CI, 0.35 to 0.68), a moderate agreement. In a sensitivity test following review of headache characteristics recorded, concordance was 0.91, κ = 0.53 (95% CI, 0.28 to 0.79), and PABAK = 0.81 (95% CI, 0.70 to 0.92), a very good agreement.ConclusionWe developed and validated a new evidence-based telephone classification interview that can be used by a non-headache specialist to classify common chronic headache types in primary care.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s10194-018-0954-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Investigating the Effects of COVID-19 Quarantine in Migraine: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study From the Italian National Headache Registry (RICe)

“…The interview was conducted on migraine patients previously enrolled in RICe, which guaranteed the presence of accurate clinical features previously recorded. This represents a point of strength compared to interviews administered to the general population (16). The general improvement of headache frequency and intensity during lockdown confirms results obtained in smaller Italian migraine samples (17).…”

Investigating the Effects of COVID-19 Quarantine in Migraine: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study from the Italian National Headache Registry (RICe)

“…The interview was conducted on migraine patients previously enrolled in RICe, which guaranteed the presence of accurate clinical features previously recorded. This represents a point of strength, as compared to interviews administered to the general population (Potter et al, 2019). The general improvement of headache frequency and intensity during lockdown con rms results obtained in smaller Italian migraine samples .…”

Usual care and a self-management support programme versus usual care and a relaxation programme for people living with chronic headache disorders: a randomised controlled trial protocol (CHESS)

“…We, therefore, developed and validated a logic model for use in a telephone interview by a nurse (non-headache expert) that would allow us to identify and classify people meeting our entry criteria while also excluding people with secondary headaches, other than medication overuse and other causes of primary headaches (table 1). 21…”