Long-term effects of a sensitisation campaign on migraine: the Casilino study.
In 2003, we conducted a sensitisation campaign on migraine in the Casilino district of Rome, by sending a letter with the ID Migraine test to all the households and placing posters in the GPs' waiting room. Out of 195 headache patients recruited, 92% had migraine while 73% had never consulted a physician for headache. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term impact of this campaign. The follow-up was performed by a telephone interview. The questionnaire considered the characteristics of headache, quality of life, preventive and acute treatments, drug efficacy, comorbidity and subjective usefulness of the campaign. Of the 179 migraineurs, 90.5% (mean age 40.7 +/- 16.5, 139 females) were included in the follow-up. An improvement was observed in mean pain intensity (-13.9%; p < 0.0001) and mean HIT-6 score (-6.1%; p = 0.0003). The campaign was considered to be useful by 63.6% of cases, while 66.1% reported an improvement in their clinical status. Improved patients showed a decreased mean number of days with headache per month (-51.7%; p < 0.0001), pain intensity (-21.8%; p < 0.0001), headache duration (-18.1%; p = 0.0008)and HIT-6 score (-11.7%; p < 0.0001). Our data suggest that the effects of a "single shot" campaign are beneficial not only in a short-term perspective, but even in the longterm. Moreover, the lack of benefit in more severe cases suggests that such patients should not be treated by GPs alone: patients in whom the HIT-6 score, frequency,severity or duration of headache worsen should be promptly referred to the headache clinic.
Petolicchio
B
B
Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Via dell'Università 30, Rome, Italy.
Di Clemente
L
L
Altieri
M
M
Vicenzini
E
E
Lenzi
G L
GL
Di Piero
Vittorio
V
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D018710:Pain Clinics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012384:Rome; D013038:Specialization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013995:Time; D016896:Treatment Outcome