[Prevalence and incidence of migraine in general practice. A survey of general practitioners in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany].

BACKGROUND

Headaches are one of the most common symptoms worldwide. The majority of patients suffer from migraine. The prevalence of migraine is about 14% in the general population in industrialized countries. Its impact on primary care is high. Migraine is impairing and therefore a frequent and acute reason for consultation in primary care. Previous studies have attempted to derive the prevalence in the general population from a representative sample. Despite the importance of migraine, there is no data on its prevalence in general practitioner's (GP) practice.

METHOD: This survey study of GPs in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany, presents the prevalence of patients with migraine in GP practices by asking GPs about the proportion of patients who present with their migraine. The headache frequency and incidence of these patients, as reported by GPs, were also surveyed. A questionnaire was designed according to methodological standards and sent to 362 GPs in North Rhine Westphalia.

RESULTS

The questionnaire was answered in full by 49 GPs (response rate 13.5%). The GPs reported having spoken to 1,002 patients about their migraine within three months. This corresponded to a prevalence of 1.5% of all patients seen. Of these, 11.5% were severely affected patients with 8 to 14 (8.6%) or at least 15 (2.9%) headache days per month.

CONCLUSIONS

The survey shows that around one tenth of the German general population suffering from migraine talk to their GP about their migraine. There is also a relevant proportion of one tenth of these patients who are severely affected by migraine. The GP practice offers a high and possibly underused potential to identify these patients, and offer them an adequate treatment option. In many cases, this could prevent the condition from becoming chronic.