Search

Objective: To estimate the prevalence, burden and current treatment of disabling primary headaches in a large sample of the Greek population aged 18–70 years old. Methods: This is an observational descriptive study, with cross-sectional design performed by quantitative computer-assisted telephone interviews, using a validated 37-item questionnaire for headaches. The prevalence, burden, and current treatment of primary headaches (ICHD-3) were recorded along with participants’ treatment preferences. Results: Out of 10,008 interviewed participants, 1197 (12.0%) reported headaches affecting performance. The annual prevalence of migraine was 8.1% (95% confidence interval, 7.6–8.7, corresponding to 0.6 million Greeks), of chronic migraine 1.0% (95% confidence interval, 0.8–1.2, corresponding to 0.1 million), and of tension-type headache 3.8% (95% confidence interval, 3.4–4.2, corresponding to 0.3 million). The participants with headaches reported 0.5 headache-induced lost workdays per month (corresponding to 5.8 million lost workdays annually) and reductions in performance on 2.8 workdays per month (corresponding to 30.9 million workdays annually). In all, 43.4% of headache participants felt bad/ashamed because of headaches and 21.9% sought professional treatment, most often from a private neurologist. 83.8% of headache participants had never taken pharmacological prophylaxis, and only 5.5% were currently under preventative treatment. For both prophylactic and acute treatment, headache participants prefer oral medication to injection or stimulation devices. Conclusion: More than 10% of the Greek adult population up to 70 years old experience disabling headaches, causing a dramatic work loss. More than 80% of these have never taken pharmacological prophylaxis. Thus, enriching the quality of life of people with headaches relies crucially on expanding awareness about headaches and their treatment. © International Headache Society 2021.

Background: We aimed to explore patients’ preferences for headache treatments with a self-administered questionnaire including the Q-No questionnaire for nocebo. Methods: Questionnaires from 514 outpatients naïve to neurostimulation and monoclonal antibodies were collected. Results: Patients assessed that the efficacy of a treatment is more important than safety or route of administration. They preferred to use an external neurostimulation device for both acute (67.1%) and preventive treatment (62.8%). Most patients preferred to take a pill (86%) than any other drug given parenterally for symptomatic pharmaceutical treatment. For preventive pharmaceutical treatment, most patients preferred to take a pill once per day (52%) compared to an injection either subcutaneously or intravenously each month (9% and 4%), or three months (15% and 11%). 56.6% of all participants scored more than 15 in Q-No questionnaire indicating potential nocebo behaviors that contributed significantly in their choices. Conclusion: These patient preferences along with efficacy and safety data may help physicians better choose the right treatment for the right person. © 2017, The Author(s).