PND4 CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRAINE PATIENTS IN PORTUGUESE HEADACHE SPECIALIST CENTERS

Abstract

Real-world evidence about the characteristics of patients suffering from migraine in Portugal is scarce. We aimed to describe the characteristics of patients visiting headache specialized centers in Portugal. BECOME study is a non-interventional study conducted across 17 European countries and Israel between Nov2017-Aug2018 entailing Part-1 (cumulative hospital data) and Part-2 (patient-level data). In Part-1, all patients visiting the participating headache specialist centers over a 3-month prospective period were screened for frequency of prior prophylactic treatment failures (TF), monthly migraine days (MMD), and other characteristics. Results from the Portuguese sample included in Part-1 are reported. Six Portuguese headache specialized centers participated in the study (3 public and 3 private). About 586 patients with migraine visited these centers during Part-1 period: 49.5%/23.3%/11.5% reported TF1+/TF2+/TF3+ and 70.1%/41.9%/20.0% reported ≥4 MMD/≥8 MMD/≥15 MMD (≥15 headache days per month at least 8 of which are migraine days). More than one-third (39.3%) of patients with migraine were visiting the centers for the first time over the 3-month period of Part-1. About 14% of the patients had suspected overuse headache. Percentage of patients with medication overuse was found to be 13.5%. This study helps to understand the real-world characteristics of migraine patients visiting headache specialist centers in Portugal. Almost one-quarter of the patients reported ≥2 prior prophylactic treatment failures and 20% reported ≥15 migraine monthly days, demonstrating the high burden of disease and unmet need with current prophylactic migraine treatments.