Diagnosing migraine in research and clinical settings: The validation of the structured migraine interview (smi)

Abstract

Background: Migraine is a common disorder that is highly co-morbid with psychopathological conditions such as depression and anxiety. Despite the extensive research and availability of treatment, migraine remains under-recognised and undertreated. The aim of this study was to design a short and practical screening tool to identify migraine for clinical and research purposes.Methods: The structured migraine interview (SMI) based on the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) criteria was used in a clinical setting of headache sufferers and compared to clinical diagnosis by headache specialist. In addition to the validating characteristics of the interview different methods of administration were also tested.Results: The SMI has high sensitivity (0.87) and modest specificity (0.58) when compared to headache specialist's clinical diagnosis.Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that a structured interview based on the ICHD criteria is a useful and valid tool to identify migraine in research settings and to a limited extent in clinical settings, and could be used in studies on large samples where clinical interviews are less practical. © 2010 Samaan et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.