title: Are there predictive factors for long-term outcome after withdrawal in drug-induced chronic daily headache?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate prognostic factors for long-term outcome of patients after inpatient withdrawal because of drug-induced chronic daily headache.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-five patients (36 females) were re-examined by means of a standardized interview after inpatient withdrawal. The mean observation period was 9.28 +/- 2.85 years (mean +/- SD; median 8.58; range 5.00-13.50).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five years after withdrawal, one-third of the patients (34.6%) had an overall favourable outcome, one-third (32.7%) had no recurrent drug overuse and reported a clear-cut improvement of headache, and one-third (32.7%) developed recurrent drug overuse. Most relapses occurred within 2 years, and a small percentage within 5 years. No predictors for long-term outcome after inpatient withdrawal were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  All patients with drug-induced chronic daily headache should be considered as good candidates for inpatient withdrawal, and no patient should be excluded from that therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Gotthard.Tribl@akh-wien.ac.at
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Tribl
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schnider
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wöber
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aull
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Auterith
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zeiler
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wessely
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012008:Recurrence