Telemedicine application to headache: a critical review

Abstract

Background: Migraine affects more than a billion people all over the world and requires critical employment of healthcare resources. Telemedicine could be a reasonable tool to manage people suffering from headaches, and it received a big push from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: This review aims to propose a practical approach for the virtual management of these patients.

Methods: To do this, we conducted a literature search, including 32 articles relevant to the topic treated in this review.

Results: The most challenging step in telemedicine applied to practical neurology remains the clinical assessment, but through a careful headache history and a recently proposed entirely virtual neurological assessment, this hitch can be easily overcome. Electronic diary compilations and virtual administration of disability-measuring scales, conversely, are the key features of effective long-term follow-up although we do not have apps that met the criteria of scientific reliability. Furthermore, tele-rehabilitation seems to be effective and has demonstrated to be a solution to alternatively treat chronic patients at home, and can be considered part of the remote management of headache patients. Moreover, virtual management of headaches finds an application in specific communities of patients, as pediatric patients and for rural communities of low- and middle-income countries suffer from health disparities, with inadequate resources and knowledge gaps.

Conclusion: Telemedicine could be promising for patients with no regular or convenient access to headache specialists and seems to be a priority in managing migraine patients to avoid non-urgent hospitalizations.

Keywords: Headache; Migraine; Tele-rehabilitation; Telehealth; Telemedicine.