Medication overuse headache in Canada

摘要

Migraine and other primary headaches cause significant disability in Canada. For some individuals medication overuse can exacerbate this disability, particularly in those with migraine. There is little information on the prevalence of medication overuse in the general population in Canada. Clinical experience would indicate that it is common and a major cause of headache-related disability. More information is available on medication overuse in patients with headache who are referred - to neurologists. The Canadian Headache Outpatient Registry and Database (CHORD) study investigated the clinical characteristics of patients referred to six neurologists with a special interest in headache in Canada. These neurologists were located in five different Canadian metropolitan areas: Calgary, Alberta (W. J. Becker, A. G. Elofl), Richmond, British Columbia (Greater Vancouver area, G. E Mackie), Ottawa, Ontario (S. N. Christie), Hamilton, Ontario (R. Giammarco) and Toronto, Ontario (M. J. Gawel). The discussion which follows will focus primarily on patients referred to neurologists/headache specialists in Canada.