Analysis Of The And Clinical Characteristics Of Medication Overuse Headache: An Outpatient Study

Objectives: To investigate the clinical features, medications used, andtriggers of medication overuse headache (MOH) in neurological outpatientsin China, and then analysis its impact to people’s life.Methods: From December2009to September2013, a cross-sectionalsurvey was conducted in the neurological clinic of a tertiary care hospital.All consecutive patients with headache referred to neurologists wereinterviewed face-to-face by physicians through a headache questionnaire.The diagnosis of MOH was made according to the HIS2006Appendixcriteria.Results: Of the1702participants,124(7.3%) patients diagnosed withMOH. As for studied MOH subjects, women were common than men, thosewith less than a college education were common than those with universityor college education. The most commonly primary headache was Migraine(n=87,70.2%), and then tension type headache, none of patients with clusterheadache as primary headache. Patients with tension type headache (21.8%,27/124) as primary headache were older than those originally had migraine (75%,93/124) at the onset of primary headache. The most common overusedmedicine was combination analgesics, and then simple analgesics, none ofpatients overuse triptans,ergotamines or opioid categories. Compared withsimple analgesics overuse group, patients with combination analgesicsoveruse were younger at onset of MOH (p=0.006),with shorter time spanbetween the onset of primary headache and cornification(p=0.035), havelonger duration of MOH (p=0.010), more likely to suffer moderate to severeintensity, and have a higher rate of patients reporting accompany withnausea/vomiting and photophobia (p＜0.005).The common triggers formedication overuse headache were whether(50.6%), negative affect(58.8%),sleep disturbance(47.2%), and sunlight(37.95%). The majority of patients(79.3%）with more than one number of triggers.Conclusion: MOH is a common disorder in the neurological clinic inchina. However, it remains under-recognize, under-diagnosed andunder-treatment. More efforts should be made to education physician as wellas patients.