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. 2011 Feb;51(2):232-6.
doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2010.01778.x. Epub 2010 Oct 14.

Time delay from onset to diagnosis of migraine

Giovanna Viticchi  1 , Mauro Silvestrini, Lorenzo Falsetti, Chiara Lanciotti, Raffaella Cerqua, Simona Luzzi, Leandro Provinciali, Marco Bartolini
Affiliations

Time delay from onset to diagnosis of migraine

Giovanna Viticchi et al. Headache. 2011 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the factors involved in the delayed diagnosis of migraine without aura among patients attending a tertiary center for headache diagnosis and management.

Methods: Two hundred consecutive patients were divided into 3 groups according to the time elapsed from the first clinical manifestations and the diagnosis of migraine at our center.

Results: The interval was <1 year in 16.5% of patients (n = 33); from 1 to 5 years in 30% (n = 60); and >5 years in 53.5% (n = 107). Younger age at migraine onset and a lower level of education were significantly associated with a longer time to diagnosis (P = .01 and P = .0001, respectively). Longer delays were significantly associated with a larger number of specialists consulted (P < .05).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest an insufficient awareness of the diagnostic criteria of migraine by non-specialist physicians, who often prescribe expensive and unnecessary diagnostic investigations that do not alleviate patients' symptoms while wasting health care resources.

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