Cefaléias primárias: abordagem diagnóstica por médicos não-neurologistas

Frequency of types of headache in the tertiary care center of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, MG, Brazil

OBJECTIVE

To assess the frequency of different diagnoses of headaches in the Headache Outpatient Clinic of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (AmbCef-UFMG).

METHODS

Cross sectional study with 289 patients consecutively attended to at AmbCef-UFMG. Headaches were diagnosed based on the criteria established by the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICDH-2004).

RESULTS

The average age of patients was 42.6 years, mostly women (86.9%) with less than nine years of education. Primary headaches were the most common type, with migraine found in 79.8% of cases, and tension-type headache (TTH) in 20.4%. Among the secondary types, the most common was headache caused by overuse of analgesics (16.6%), followed by less common types, such as idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Chronic daily headache (CDH) was found in 31.8% of cases.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms literature data showing migraine as the most common headache in tertiary care centers. The expressive number of cases of CDH and headaches caused by overuse of analgesics indicates that, starting at the primary care level, patients should be advised to avoid the abuse of symptomatic drugs.

[Influence of treatments for migraine on quality of life: literature integrative review]

This study aimed to identify the impact of the main treatments for migraine on the quality of life (QOL) as affected people and the instruments used to assess the QOL. It consists of an integrative review of the literature, in which the databases PubMed, BIREME and The Cochrane Library were used, considering articles from 2000 to 2009. We selected 42 articles for analysis, which were fully read. The articles were classified into three categories: pharmacological treatments for the crisis, prophylactic drug treatments and alternative treatments for migraine. In most studies, the tools used to assess QOL were validated and the most commonly used were the Medical Outcomes Study Questionnaire 36 - Item Short Form Health Survey (SF 36), the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MSQ) and the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS). We conclude that, in general, the treatments seem to be positive on the QOL of individuals with migraine.