Reduction in the impact of chronic migraine with medication overuse after day-hospital withdrawal therapy

Abstract

The 6-item Headache Impact Test questionnaire (HIT-6) is a simple and reliable tool to measure the impact headaches have on patients' lives. Patients with chronic migraine (CM) and medication overuse are markedly impaired in their functional activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the responsiveness of the HIT-6 tool to clinical changes induced by treatment in patients with CM and medication overuse. A sample of 160 patients underwent a day-hospital withdrawal treatment followed by prophylaxis. Sixty-two of them completed the 12-month follow up. Patients improved significantly after treatment intervention, as days of headache per month and medications/month decreased from baseline to follow up. Also HIT-6 scores improved, with mean score decreasing from 65±5.4 (median 65) to 59.4±8.5 (median 62) (Student's t-test p <0.00001) and with a reduction in the percentage of patients with very severe headache-related impact one year after withdrawal therapy. © Springer-Verlag Italia 2008.