Dilemma of migraine diagnosis and management among non-neurologists

Mai Fathy,Sherien Farag,Shahinaz Helmy,Ahmed Elsadek,Amr Abdelmoneim

doi:10.1186/s41983-021-00371-8

Mai Fathy, Sherien Farag + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41983-021-00371-8

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Abstract

BackgroundMigraine is a common and debilitating disorder however there is a wide gap in its diagnosis and management. Many migraine patients present to non-neurologists, so it is of utmost importance that non neurologists become well oriented with the diagnostic criteria and different lines of management. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of non-neurologists towards migraine.ResultsAbout 45% of physicians in our study refer migraine patients to non-neurologists, only 20.96% are aware of both classic and novel treatments, 43% had poor knowledge of migraine symptoms and management, 32.34% recommended using medical tailored programs to increase the awareness of non-neurologists regarding migraine.ConclusionsThere is a wide gap of knowledge concerning migraine among non-neurologists.

Highlights

Migraine is a common and debilitating disorder there is a wide gap in its diagnosis and management
Despite the availability of international guidelines for migraine diagnosis and treatment [2, 3], the management of migraine is still far from ideal as many of the patients did not reach a medical diagnosis and did not receive proper acute and preventive treatment [4]. This could be due to many reasons; including lack of public awareness, physician knowledge and that the management of headache patients could be by a primary physician or other specialties that are not aware of the proper diagnosis and management of migraine [5]
At our country many of the headache patients are seen by physicians other than neurologists, who could be a family doctor, ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist, cardiologist, internal medicine physician or others, this could lead to a proper treatment gap, so our study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of the non-neurologist doctors about migraine diagnosis and management

Summary

Introduction

Migraine is a common and debilitating disorder there is a wide gap in its diagnosis and management. Despite the availability of international guidelines for migraine diagnosis and treatment [2, 3], the management of migraine is still far from ideal as many of the patients did not reach a medical diagnosis and did not receive proper acute and preventive treatment [4]. This could be due to many reasons; including lack of public awareness, physician knowledge and that the management of headache patients could be by a primary physician or other specialties that are not aware of the proper diagnosis and management of migraine [5]. Since most patients with migraine did not receive a correct diagnosis, they mostly depend on over the counter analgesics which if

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