The Primary Care Management of Headache: Synopsis of the 2020 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline

Abstract

Introduction: In June of 2020, the U.S. DVA and DoD approved a new joint clinical practice guideline for assessing and managing patients with headache. This guideline provides a framework to evaluate, treat, and longitudinally manage the individual needs and preferences of patients with headache. Methods: In October of 2018, the DVA/DoD Evidence-Based Practice Work Group convened a guideline development panel that included clinical stakeholders and conformed to the National Academy of Medicine's tenets for trustworthy clinical practice guidelines. Results: The guideline panel developed key questions, systematically searched and evaluated the literature, created a 1-page algorithm, and advanced 42 recommendations using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system. Conclusion: This synopsis summarizes the key features of the guideline in three areas: prevention, assessing and treating medication overuse headache, and nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic management of headache.