Reliability, Validity, and Clinical Utility of the Migraine‐ACT Questionnaire

Abstract

These data confirm the excellent reliability and validity of the Migraine-ACT questionnaire and provide further evidence for its utility in clinical practice.

Responsiveness of Migraine‐ACT and MIDAS Questionnaires for Assessing Migraine Therapy

“…The Migraine Assessment of Current Therapy (Migraine-ACT) questionnaire was recently developed to serve as a rapid and simple means of identifying patients in primary care who require a change in current acute migraine treatment. 19,20 Consisting of 4 questions answered with "yes" or "no," the Migraine-ACT is scored from 0 to 4 points with each "yes" answer counted as 1 point. The 4 questions are as follows: When you take your treatment .…”

“…19,20 The Migraine-ACT has shown excellent reliability (test-retest) and construct validity. 19,20 It also displays a good correlation with other instruments such as the Short Form-36 (SF-36) qualityof-life questionnaire, 21 the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) questionnaire, 22,23 and the Migraine Therapy Assessment Questionnaire (MTAQ). 19,20,24 To date, testing of the Migraine-ACT questionnaire has been in a secondary care referral setting.…”

“…To better help clinicians in their interpretation of the scale, the MIDAS values are normally reported in cut-off points or "grades" ranging from I to IV, with scores being grouped asymmetrically in 4 categories as follows: minimal or infrequent disability, I (score 0-5); mild or infrequent disability, II (6-10); moderate disability, III (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20); and severe disability, IV (Ն21). At baseline, we observed that the mean MIDAS score was roughly 4 points lower for each point of the Migraine-ACT score (see Table 1), which represented a more symmetric dichotomization than that used in the clinical context.…”

“…The 4 questions assess 4 clinically important domains of the migraine experience, all in relation to treatment, namely, consistency of response, global assessment of relief, headache impact, and emotional response. 19,20 Instead, the MIDAS questionnaire was designed to assess migraine-related disability. The MIDAS score represents the days lost to migraine, including both missed work and nonwork days as well as days when productivity (work and nonwork) is reduced by at least half.…”

“…Migraine-ACT Question 2 assesses whether the patient is pain free at 2 hours after treatment; this measure is considered 1 of the most important clinical endpoints. 20 In addition, Question 3 assesses a patient's ability to function normally with treatment, an important measure of migraine severity. 20 The present study was designed to be a "realworld" assessment of the Migraine-ACT questionnaire in primary care.…”