Impact of Preventive Medications in Migraine Patients at Rhode Island Hospital

摘要

OBJECTIVE: Determine healthcare resource utilization in migraine patients prescribed preventive medications in the resident neurology clinic at Rhode Island Hospital. BACKGROUND: Similar institutions have demonstrated that treatment with preventive migraine medications results in significant decreases in outpatient and ED visits, CT/ MRI scans and abortive medication usage. 1 METHODS: Retrospective chart review identified 166 pa- tients based on icd-9 code. Resource utilization was defined as documented emergency room visits, MRI/CT, hospital- izations, outpatient visits and abortive medication usage. RESULTS: There was no difference in resource utilization in those patients taking or not taking a preventive medica- tion. Only 53% were on a level A recommended medication and of those 35.5% were treated with recommended doses. CONCLUSION: Unlike similar institutions, there was no difference in resource utilization in patients taking pre- ventive medications. A possible explanation for this dis- crepancy may be that patients are sub-optimally treated with less effective medications and doses. Employment of appropriate preventive medications may result in a decrease in the utilization of healthcare resources.