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Background: Clinical trials and observational studies with anti-calcitonin gene-related peptide antibodies poorly investigated their impact on migraine prodromal and accompanying symptoms. This information might help deciphering the biologics' pharmacodynamic and provide hints on migraine pathogenesis. Herein, we report the effects of erenumab, fremanezumab and galcanezumab on attack prodromal and accompanying symptoms and on neurological and psychiatric traits. Methods: An explorative, prospective, questionnaire-based study was completed by a cohort (n = 80) of patients with chronic migraine patients presenting a sustained reduction of ≥50% of Migraine Disability Assessment Score and ≥30% of monthly migraine days three months after anti-calcitonin gene-related peptide antibodies treatment. Results: The majority of patients experienced a complete prevention of migraine symptoms without evidence of initial onset followed by attack abortion. Few patients reported the recurrence of prodromal (from 10% to 12.5%) or accompanying (from 1.3% to 8.8%) symptoms without headache. All patients with migraine with aura reported a decrease of aura incidence. Sleep changes (51.2%), increase in appetite (20.0%) and weight (18.8%) as well as a reduction in stress (45.0%), anxiety (26.3%), and panic attacks (15%) were also reported. Conclusion: Anti-calcitonin gene-related peptide antibodies seems to significantly impact brain functions of migraineurs, preventing not only migraine headache but also its anticipatory and accompanying symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The proper identification of chronic migraine is one of the mainstays for general practitioners. This study therefore aims to assess the epidemiology and determinants of chronic migraine in primary care in Italy by testing five operational case definition algorithms. Methods: Five case definition algorithms defining chronic migraine were developed to estimate the prevalence and incidence rate of chronic migraine in the Health Search database. For each algorithm, we conducted a nested case-control analysis to quantify the level of association between certain determinants and incident cases of chronic migraine. Results: Considering a cohort of 1,091,032 patients (52% were females), the prevalence rate of chronic migraine increased from the first to the fifth case definition algorithm ranging from 0.03 to 0.28%. No 95% confidence interval overlapped the others, and every confidence interval reliably maintained 2% precision. Incidence rates showed a growing trend (0.008–0.056 per 100,000 person-years) as well. All case definition algorithms were able to capture sex (i.e. female) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) overuse as statistically significant determinants of incident cases of chronic migraine. Depression was associated with a statistically significant increase of incidence rate of chronic migraine only for two case definition algorithms. Conclusion: Our findings show that prevalence and incidence rate of chronic migraine are underestimated when compared with current literature. On the other hand, we found acceptable correctness of chronic migraine definition in the light of the association with well-known determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The proper identification of chronic migraine is one of the mainstays for general practitioners. This study therefore aims to assess the epidemiology and determinants of chronic migraine in primary care in Italy by testing five operational case definition algorithms.Methods: Five case definition algorithms defining chronic migraine were developed to estimate the prevalence and incidence rate of chronic migraine in the Health Search database. For each algorithm, we conducted a nested case-control analysis to quantify the level of association between certain determinants and incident cases of chronic migraine.Results: Considering a cohort of 1,091,032 patients (52% were females), the prevalence rate of chronic migraine increased from the first to the fifth case definition algorithm ranging from 0.03 to 0.28%. No 95% confidence interval overlapped the others, and every confidence interval reliably maintained 2% precision. Incidence rates showed a growing trend (0.008-0.056 per 100,000 person-years) as well. All case definition algorithms were able to capture sex (i.e. female) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) overuse as statistically significant determinants of incident cases of chronic migraine. Depression was associated with a statistically significant increase of incidence rate of chronic migraine only for two case definition algorithms.Conclusion: Our findings show that prevalence and incidence rate of chronic migraine are underestimated when compared with current literature. On the other hand, we found acceptable correctness of chronic migraine definition in the light of the association with well-known determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]