Triptan use among hospital workers affected by migraine

Abstract

Triptans represent the most specific and effective treatment for migraine attacks. Nevertheless, in clinical practice, they are often underused. Hospital workers, in particular physicians, are expected to be more aware of the correct use of specific drugs, especially for a very common disease such as migraine. Aim of this study was to evaluate whether different hospital workers affected by migraine are able to correctly manage the most suitable therapy for their migraine attacks. During a 1-year period, we submitted hospital employees to a structured interview with a questionnaire to investigate the presence of headache and its characteristics. In particular, in the subpopulation of subjects affected by migraine, we took information regarding their usual treatment for the control of attacks. The type of drug and the category of the working activity were synthesized as two different ordinal variables. Difference in the distribution of the different drug categories was evaluated with Chi squared test. Statistics was performed with SPSS 13.0 for Windows systems. We enrolled 1250 consecutive subjects: 20.3 % of the population (254 patients) was affected by migraine. Triptans use was significantly lower than that of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The distribution of the use of the drugs was significantly different (p < 0.0001) at Chi squared test. Among migraineur physicians, only 10.7 % used triptans. Even in this subgroup, we observed a significant difference (p < 0.0001) in the distribution of the use of the drugs at Chi squared test. Our findings show a reduced use of triptans among hospital workers. These data reflect the unsatisfactory dissemination of knowledge regarding the correct management of migraine attacks and the advantages of treatment with triptans. An incorrect therapeutic approach to migraine contributes to the risk of the most important complications, such as drugs abuse or illness chronicization. These findings suggest that an insufficient awareness of migraine-related therapeutic options also involves hospital workers, including physicians.

O040. Migraineurs and self-consciousness of illness in a population of hospital workers

“…Consequently, the use of specific molecules, such as triptans, presented a very low diffusion. These results reflect international literature, but on the other hand, underline a very unsatisfactory knowledge about migraine and its possible consequences[ 2 , 3 ]. Moreover, these data are especially worrisome because they are representative of a hospital population.…”

Migraine: incorrect self-management for a disabling disease

“…Despite the impact of migraine on the different aspects of life, the self-consciousness of illness and the management turns out to be unsatisfactory: several studies report that only a negligible part of migraine patients refer to headache centres. 9 , 10 Moreover, studies regarding the pharmacologic treatment have shown that specific therapies for the acute attack of migraine, namely triptans, are underused. 11-13 Aim of this study was to investigate, in a population of hospital workers, the prevalence of headache and migraine, the management and the awareness of illness.…”