Chronic daily headache: is analgesic overuse a cause or a consequence?
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Richard B Lipton.
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BACKGROUND: Participation in leisure activities has been associated with a lower risk of dementia. It is unclear whether increased participation in leisure activities lowers the risk of dementia or participation in leisure activities declines during the preclinical phase of dementia. METHODS: We examined the relation between leisure activities and the risk of dementia in a prospective cohort of 469 subjects older than 75 years of age who resided in the community and did not have dementia at base line. We examined the frequency of participation in leisure activities at enrollment and derived cognitive-activity and physical-activity scales in which the units of measure were activity-days per week. Cox proportional-hazards analysis was used to evaluate the risk of dementia according to the base-line level of participation in leisure activities, with adjustment for age, sex, educational level, presence or absence of chronic medical illnesses, and base-line cognitive status. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up period of 5.1 years, dementia developed in 124 subjects (Alzheimer's disease in 61 subjects, vascular dementia in 30, mixed dementia in 25, and other types of dementia in 8). Among leisure activities, reading, playing board games, playing musical instruments, and dancing were associated with a reduced risk of dementia. A one-point increment in the cognitive-activity score was significantly associated with a reduced risk of dementia (hazard ratio, 0.93 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.90 to 0.97]), but a one-point increment in the physical-activity score was not (hazard ratio, 1.00). The association with the cognitive-activity score persisted after the exclusion of the subjects with possible preclinical dementia at base line. Results were similar for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. In linear mixed models, increased participation in cognitive activities at base line was associated with reduced rates of decline in memory. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, even after adjustment for base-line cognitive status and after the exclusion of subjects with possible preclinical dementia. Controlled trials are needed to assess the protective effect of cognitive leisure activities on the risk of dementia.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the utility of telephone screening for identifying subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) for enrollment in a clinical trial and to identify which elements of the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) best predicted the in-clinic determination of aMCI. METHODS: Subjects aged >/=65 years with memory complaints responded to an advertisement for a clinical trial by calling a central telephone recruiting agency. To determine eligibility, subjects went through a stepwise selection procedure involving a review of major protocol inclusion and exclusion criteria, followed by administration of the Category Fluency Test (CFT) and then the TICS-m. Subjects meeting entry criteria, who obtained a score of </=13 on the CFT for "animals" and </=24 on the CFT for "animals" and "fruits" and who scored between 19 and 38 on the TICS-m, were referred for a clinic appointment to determine whether they met clinical criteria for aMCI. Clinical criteria for aMCI required a score of >/=24 on the Mini-Mental State Examination and a score of </=37 on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. A post hoc analysis was performed using factor analysis and logistic regression models to investigate which elements of the TICS-m best predicted the in-clinic determination of aMCI. RESULTS: Of 16,988 subjects who called the telephone agency, 8,742 passed the review of inclusion/exclusion criteria; 6,090 met the CFT cut scores and received the TICS-m; 5,223 met cut scores on the TICS-m and were referred for an in-clinic appointment; 747 were seen in the clinic; and 324 met clinical criteria for aMCI. Factor analysis indicated three factors on the TICS-m: language/attention, orientation, and memory. The memory factor, comprising immediate and delayed recall of a word list, was the most important contributor for identifying subjects who met clinical criteria for aMCI. CONCLUSION: Only 2% of subjects who underwent telephone screening were recruited into the study, but 43% of those who passed telephone screening and were seen in the clinic met clinical criteria for aMCI. The word recall tests of the TICS-m were the most important items for identifying which subjects met clinical criteria for aMCI.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which variation in the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) score is associated with headache frequency, pain intensity, headache symptoms, gender, and employment status. BACKGROUND: The MIDAS questionnaire is a 7-item questionnaire (with 5 scored items) designed to measure headache-related disability, to improve physician-patient communication, and to identify patients with high treatment needs. METHODS: Data from 3 population-based studies (total sample, n = 397) conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom were used to evaluate the relationship between headache features (attack frequency, pain intensity, pain quality, and associated symptoms) and MIDAS score. Data on headache features were collected by telephone using a standardized interview. The MIDAS questionnaire was completed shortly after the telephone interview. General linear models were used to determine the extent to which population variation in the MIDAS score was explained by headache features. RESULTS: Using linear regression, variables for all headache features (ie, headache frequency, pain intensity, pain quality, and associated symptoms) and demographic characteristics explained only 22% of the variation in MIDAS scores. Almost all (19.9%) the explained variance was accounted for by average pain intensity (12.0%), number of headache days (6.1%), and exacerbation of pain with movement (1.8%). When pain intensity and headache frequency were included in the model, no statistically significant differences in MIDAS scores were observed by gender or employment status. Although explaining only 2.1% of the variance, age was significantly associated with MIDAS scores, with those under 25 years demonstrating higher MIDAS scores than other age groups. No other variables (ie, frequency of occurrence of associated symptoms and other measures of quality of pain) were associated with MIDAS scores. CONCLUSIONS: Challenges to the utility of the MIDAS as a measure include whether headache-related disability is largely a function of other routine headache features and whether MIDAS is inherently biased based on work status and gender. While the MIDAS score was associated with headache frequency and average pain score, these two headache features explain only a modest proportion of the variation in MIDAS scores. Additionally, gender and work status were not related to MIDAS scores. These findings suggest that the MIDAS score captures information about disability that is not inherent to other headache features and is independent of gender and work status.
BACKGROUND: Chronic migraine is the most common type of chronic daily headache seen in headache tertiary care centers. Most patients with chronic migraine report their ability to function and feeling of well-being as severely impaired. OBJECTIVE: To measure the headache-related disability of patients with chronic migraine using the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) Questionnaire, comparing it with that obtained in a control group of patients with episodic migraine. METHODS: The clinical records of 703 patients with chronic daily headache treated in a headache specialty clinic were reviewed to identify 182 with chronic migraine who were evaluated using the MIDAS at their initial visit. Our control group consisted of 86 patients with episodic migraine. RESULTS: Of the 182 patients with chronic migraine, 127 (69.8%) were overusing acute-care medication. Patients were predominantly women (72.5%), with a mean age of 38.3 years. The group with episodic migraine consisted of 59 women (68.6%), with a mean age of 36.1 years. No statistically significant demographic differences were observed between the two groups. The group with chronic migraine had more total headache days over 3 months (66.7 versus 15.5, P<.001), missed more days of work or school (5.3 versus 2.3, P =.0007), had more reduced effectiveness days at work or school (11.9 versus 4.6, P =.0001), missed more days of housework (16.5 versus 3.3, P<.0001), and missed more days of family, social, or leisure activities (7.0 versus 5.5, P =.03). The group with chronic migraine was more likely to be in MIDAS grade IV (64.3% versus 43.2%, P =.001), reflecting the great likelihood of severe disability in this group. The average total MIDAS score was 34.9 in the group with chronic migraine versus 19.3 in the group with episodic migraine (P<.001). CONCLUSION: In subspecialty centers, patients with chronic migraine demonstrate remarkable impairment of their daily activities and are severely burdened by their headache syndrome, reflected by their high MIDAS scores. The chronicity and pervasiveness of migraine thus is associated with increased functional impairment as well as increase in headache frequency.
OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to assess the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and validity of a Japanese translation of the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) Questionnaire in a sample of Japanese patients with headache. BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that the English-language version of the MIDAS Questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of migraine-related disability. Any translations of the MIDAS Questionnaire must also be assessed for reliability and validity. METHODS: Study participants were recruited from the patient population attending either the Neurology Department of Kitasato University or an affiliated clinic. Participants were eligible for study entry if they had 6 or more primary headaches per year. For reliability testing, participants completed the MIDAS Questionnaire on 2 occasions, exactly 2 weeks apart. To assess validity, patients were also invited to participate in a 90-day daily diary study. Composite measures from the 90-day diaries were compared to equivalent MIDAS measures (ie, 5 questions on headache-related disability and 1 question each on average pain intensity and headache frequency in the last 3 months) and to the total MIDAS score obtained from a third MIDAS Questionnaire completed at the end of this 90-day period. RESULTS: One hundred one patients between the ages of 21 and 77 years were recruited (81 women and 20 men). Ninety-nine patients (80 women and 19 men) participated in the diary study. At baseline, 46.5% of patients were MIDAS grade I or II (minimal, mild, or infrequent disability), 22.2% were MIDAS grade III (moderate disability), and 31.3% were MIDAS grade IV (severe disability). Test-retest Spearman correlations for the 5 disability questions and the questions on average pain intensity and headache frequency ranged from 0.59 to 0.80 (P<.0001). The test-retest Spearman correlation coefficient for the total MIDAS score was 0.83 (P<.0001). The degree to which individual MIDAS questions correlated with the diary-based measures ranged from 0.36 to 0.88. The correlation between the total MIDAS score and the equivalent diary-based measure was 0.66. In general, the mean and median values for the MIDAS items and total MIDAS score were similar to the means and medians for the diary-based measures. However, the mean MIDAS scores for the number of days on which headache was experienced and the number of missed workdays were significantly different compared to the diary-based estimates for these items (P<.05). In addition, the mean MIDAS score for the number of days of missed housework was significantly higher than the corresponding diary-based estimate (P<.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study show that the Japanese translation of the MIDAS Questionnaire is comparable with the English-language version in terms of reliability and validity.
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BACKGROUND: Neurologic abnormalities affecting gait occur early in several types of non-Alzheimer's dementias, but their value in predicting the development of dementia is uncertain. METHODS: We analyzed the relation between neurologic gait status at base line and the development of dementia in a prospective study involving 422 subjects older than 75 years of age who lived in the community and did not have dementia at base line. Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis was used to calculate hazard ratios with adjustment for potential confounding demographic, medical, and cognitive variables. RESULTS: At enrollment, 85 subjects had neurologic gait abnormalities of the following types: unsteady gait (in 31 subjects), frontal gait (in 12 subjects), hemiparetic gait (in 11 subjects), neuropathic gait (in 11 subjects), ataxic gait (in 10 subjects), parkinsonian gait (in 8 subjects), and spastic gait (in 2 subjects). During follow-up (median duration, 6.6 years), there were 125 newly diagnosed cases of dementia, 70 of them cases of Alzheimer's disease and 55 cases of non-Alzheimer's dementia (47 of which involved vascular dementia and 8 of which involved other types of dementia). Subjects with neurologic gait abnormalities had a greater risk of development of dementia (hazard ratio, 1.96 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.30 to 2.96]). These subjects had an increased risk of non-Alzheimer's dementia (hazard ratio, 3.51 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.98 to 6.24]), but not of Alzheimer's dementia (hazard ratio, 1.07 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.57 to 2.02]). Of non-Alzheimer's dementias, abnormal gait predicted the development of vascular dementia (hazard ratio, 3.46 [95 percent confidence interval, 1.86 to 6.42]). Among the types of abnormal gait, unsteady gait predicted vascular dementia (hazard ratio, 2.61), as did frontal gait (hazard ratio, 4.32) and hemiparetic gait (hazard ratio, 13.13). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of neurologic gait abnormalities in elderly persons without dementia at base line is a significant predictor of the risk of development of dementia, especially non-Alzheimer's dementia.
Although people with migraine are aware of their headaches they are often not aware that they have migraine. This can lead to inappropriate or ineffective use of treatments, delays in seeking appropriate care, and miscommunication during clinical encounters. This article assesses self-recognition of migraine and identifies terms used by migraine sufferers to describe their migraine headaches. Individuals were selected for telephone interview by random digit dialing in several large United States cities as a part of a clinical trials recruiting initiative. Individuals (n = 30,758) aged 18 to 65 years of age were interviewed about their headaches using a validated computer-assisted telephone interview. Among the 23,564 respondents who reported headache, their headaches were classified as migraine (with or without aura) by the criteria of the International Headache Society (IHS). The relationships among the terms subjects used for their headaches and their IHS diagnosis of migraine were assessed. Of the 23,564 respondents, 4,967 individuals called their headache migraine and 3,074 individuals reported headache that met the IHS criteria for migraine. The positive predictive value for self-assessed migraine is 33.1%; the negative predictive value for a self-assessment other than migraine is 92.3%. Therefore, individuals who called their headaches migraine were about three times more likely to meet IHS criteria for migraine. Among the 3,074 individuals meeting IHS criteria for migraine, only 53.4% recognized their headaches as migraine (sensitivity 54%; specificity 83.8%). Among migraineurs, stress headaches (n = 345) and sinus headaches (n = 365) were the most common erroneous labels reported. Age influenced the erroneous terminology. Individuals less than 40 years of age were more likely to misidentify their migraine as stress headaches, whereas individuals 40 years of age and older were more likely to misidentify their migraines as sinus headaches. In a population sample, 54% of individuals with IHS migraine did not know that their headaches are migraine. Those who called their headaches migraine were much more likely to have migraine. Migraine awareness programs that rely solely on the term "migraine" may miss individuals who urgently need to be reached. Therefore, public education should target people with severe or disabling headache and aim to create awareness of the diagnostic possibilities.
OBJECTIVE: This study determines if measures of the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) differ in a population study of 80 migraine cases vs 85 controls matched for age, race, and sex. BACKGROUND: The authors sought to confirm clinic-based studies suggesting that migraine is associated with abnormal ANS function. METHODS: Resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, Valsalva maneuver, heart rate variability (pulse rate [RR] variation) during deep breathing, and cardiovascular reactivity were measured during headache-free intervals. Migraineurs were subdivided into those with (n = 28) and without (n = 52) disabling headaches. RESULTS: Resting diastolic, but not systolic, blood pressure was elevated in disabled (73.2 mm) compared with nondisabled cases (71.6 mm; p < 0.10) and controls (69.8 mm; p < 0.096). RR variation also was significantly different among the three groups. Disabled migraine cases (1.19) had significantly lower RR variation compared with nondisabled migraine cases (1.26; p < 0.001) and controls (1.26; p < 0.001). The Valsalva ratio and mean circular resultant were lower in disabled cases compared with other migraine cases and with controls, but the differences were not statistically significant. No differences were found between the three groups when comparing blood pressure response to a psychological stressor. CONCLUSIONS: Migraineurs with disabling attacks may be prone to ANS hypofunction. These findings may suggest that ANS dysfunction either may be a risk factor for migraine headaches or be a consequence of frequent disabling attacks. Moreover, ANS dysfunction and migraine may share a common neural substrate.
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There are many people who experience headaches that are independent of illness, injury, or hangover. Approximately 4% of the population suffer from headaches on a daily or near-daily basis. It is apparent that patients with chronic daily headache in community samples differ in important ways from patients with chronic daily headache in subspecialty clinics. In this manuscript, we review clinic-based data on risk factors for chronic daily headache and summarize the current data on the epidemiology of chronic daily headache.
Migraine is a common chronic condition with an ever-expanding therapeutic armamentarium. As therapeutic options multiply, it is increasingly important to understand patients' attitudes and preferences regarding various treatment characteristics. Several strategies have evolved to establish treatment priorities in migraine and rationalize and prioritize end points and outcomes to meet the needs of patients. A survey of a population-based sample of migraineurs indicated that an overwhelming majority of patients consider complete relief of head pain, no recurrence, and rapid onset of action as important or very important attributes of acute migraine therapy. An analysis of the relationship between clinical end points and satisfaction found that more than 90% of patients who were pain-free at 2 hours were at least somewhat satisfied with treatment, but satisfaction was dependent on relatively rapid relief. Using a "willingness-to-pay" approach, results indicated that while patients will pay more for migraine treatment that produces rapid, consistent relief without adverse effects or recurrence, speed of complete relief is the most valued attribute. By assessing physician preferences and practices, degree of pain relief and rapid onset were identified as the most important attributes of acute therapy. Based on results from preference studies of triptans, 50% of patients cited more rapid pain relief as the most important determinant of treatment preference. Based on these various approaches, the consensus view is that both clinicians and patients desire a broad range of positive migraine treatment attributes, but rapid onset of complete pain relief is a particularly important priority.
OBJECTIVES: To improve screening for Alzheimer's disease (AD) with the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS), a 4-minute, four-item delayed free and cued recall memory test with controlled learning and high discriminative validity. To assess the discriminative validity of the MIS for AD and to compare it with the conventional three-word memory test, a delayed free recall task, widely recommended as a dementia-screening test in clinical practice. DESIGN: Cross-sectional validation study nested within a longitudinal study of aging and dementia. The MIS and the standard three-word memory task were administered as part of a comprehensive neurological and neuropsychological evaluation. SETTING: Einstein Aging Study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred forty community-dwelling older adults. MEASUREMENTS: Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated for the MIS and three-word memory test as screening tests for AD. RESULTS: In comparison with the three-word memory task, the MIS had higher sensitivity (.86 vs.65), higher specificity (.97 vs.85), and greater PPV (.80 vs.37) as a screen for AD. CONCLUSIONS: The MIS had high discriminative validity as a screening test for AD and substantially outperformed the three-word memory task. Given its validity and brevity, the MIS has important advantages as an AD screen for use in primary care.
The Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) questionnaire is a brief, self-administered questionnaire designed to quantify headache-related disability over a 3 month period. The MIDAS score has been shown to have moderately high test-retest reliability in headache sufferers and is correlated with clinical judgment regarding the need for medical care. The aim of the study was to examine the validity of the MIDAS score, and the five items comprising the score, compared to data from a 90 day daily diary used, in part, to record acute disability from headache. In a population-based sample, 144 clinically diagnosed migraine headache sufferers were enrolled in a 90 day diary study and completed the MIDAS questionnaire at the end of the study. The daily diary was used to record detailed information on headache features as well as activity limitations in work, household chores, and non-work activities (social, family and leisure activities). The MIDAS score was the sum of missed work or school days, missed household chores days, missed non-work activity days, and days at work or school plus days of household chores where productivity was reduced by half or more in the last 3 months. Validity was assessed by comparing MIDAS items and the MIDAS score with equivalent measures derived from the diary. The MIDAS items for missed days of work or school (mean 0.96, median 0) and for missed days of household work (mean 3.64, median 2.0) were similar to the corresponding diary-based estimates of missed work or school (mean 1.23, median 0) and of missed household work (mean 3.93, median 2.01). Values for missed days of non-work activities (MIDAS mean 2.6 and median 1 versus diary mean 2.22 and median 0.95) were also similar. Responses to MIDAS questions about number of days where productivity was reduced by half or more in work (mean 3.77, median 2.00) and in household work (mean 3.92, median 2.00) significantly overestimated the corresponding diary-based measures for work (mean 2.94, median 1.06) and household work (mean 2.22, median 0.98). Nonetheless, the overall MIDAS score (mean 14.53, median 9.0) was not significantly different form the reference diary-based measure (mean 13.5, median 8.4). The correlation between the MIDAS summary score and an equivalent diary score was 0.63. The group estimate of the MIDAS score was found to be a valid estimate of a rigorous diary-based measure of disability. The mean and median values for the MIDAS score in a population-based sample of migraine cases were similar to equivalent diary measures. The correlation between the two measures was in the low moderate range, but expected given that two very different methods of data collection were compared.