Migraine Variability: An Underrecognized Impediment to Effective Treatment

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether individuals in a population-based sample of migraine sufferers experience attacks that vary in intensity and in degree of disability, and to correlate any variability with age, sex, attack frequency and physician-consulting behaviour.DESIGN: Telephone interviews of randomly selected, population-based sample.PARTICIPANTS: Men and women, aged 15 years and older, with headaches conforming to modified International Headache Society diagnostic criteria for migraine.METHODS: Sample selected by modified random digit dialling method, with call-backs. A total of 20,565 calls identified 341 migraine sufferers who were interviewed by trained interviewers from a survey research organization using a computer-assisted system.DATA ANALYSIS: Descriptive, with differences between proportions of groups tested by c2.RESULTS: Eighty-nine per cent of all migraine suffers had experienced two or three levels of severity in their migraine attacks as assessed by debilitation.CONCLUSIONS: Most migraine sufferers experience frequent variation in attack severity, a finding that has implications for the prescribing of appropriate treatment.