Primary care physicians’ training is a key to improving migraine detection and treatment
Migraine is a recurrent disease that causes disabling headache attacks and that affects 12% of the population of ages between 18 and 65. In Catalonia, more than half a million people suffer from migraine. This disease affects between 2 and 3 women, in fertile age, for each man. “Migraine causes recurrent headache of generally moderate or severe intensity. This is usually associated to light and noise sensitivity (photophobia and audiophobia), nausea and, on some occasions, vomit”, says Dr. Joan Prat, neurologist of Bellvitge University Hospital and secretary of the Headache Group of the Catalan Society of Neurology. “These attacks disable the patient, usually last between some hours and 3 days and are worsened by activity”, he adds.
Given the importance of this disease, Bellvitge University Hospital celebrated the III Day of Migraine in Catalonia last 4th of October, organised by the doctors of the headache areas from both Bellvitge and Viladecans hospitals, with the support of the Catalan Society of Neurology and the Catalan Society of Family and Community Medicine (CAMFiC). It was a practical and training meeting intended mainly for primary care physicians. Catalonia’s migraine specialists dealt with the latest developments and diagnosis improvements of chronic migraine, that is to say, improvements in those patients who suffer headache more than half of the days.
Joint work of the neurology departments from both hospitals, together with the primary care assistance for the control of patients with headache, has been important along the past years. As a result of such cooperation, the percentage of first visits for headache at Viladecans Hospital decreased 30% between 2005 and 2010, (from 30% to 21 % of the total of first visits at Viladecans Hospital). At the same time, quality of referral and patients’ control was improved, thus reducing requests for attention because of chronic headache from 24% to 16% on the total of patients with headache. This reflects a better prevention task by primary care.
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