• Hans-Christoph Diener, Andrew Dowson, Susan Whicker, and Teresa Bacon.
• Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany.
• J Headache Pain. 2008 Dec 1; 9 (6): 359-65.

AbstractA questionnaire (Migraine Questionnaire; MQ) was developed to help pharmacists identify consumers with migraine suitable for non-prescription treatment with a triptan. Adults, who knew or thought that they had migraine, participated in three, sequential, community-based studies to validate the MQ. Overall, 1,353 subjects completed independent assessments with a pharmacist and a clinician (reference standard). The accuracy of the pharmacist assessment of suitability for a triptan was compared with the clinician assessment. Clinicians using their standard practice determined that triptan therapy was suitable in 76.8% of cases compared with 48.8% for pharmacists using the MQ. The lack of concordance between pharmacists and clinicians in the false-positive cases (n = 113 of 660 subjects considered suitable for triptan by the pharmacists) usually related to headache diagnosis (57.5%), not safety aspects. The MQ is an effective tool for pharmacists to guide appropriate recommendation of a non-prescription triptan for migraine.

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