• M B Russell, K Aaseth, R B Grande, P Gulbrandsen, and C Lundqvist.
• Head and neck research group, Akershus University Hospital, Nordbyhagen, Oslo, Norway. m.b.russell@medisin.uio.no
• Acta Neurol. Scand., Suppl.c. 2007 Jan 1;187:59-63.

BackgroundLarge-scale population-based epidemiological surveys on chronic headache based on clinical interview by a physician are lacking.Aims Of The StudyTo describe a method that aims to provide valid information on chronic headache.MethodA self-administered questionnaire including two questions about headache frequency within the last month and within the last year was used to screen for possible chronic headache. Respondents with self-reported headache more than half of the days were interviewed by neurological residents with experience in headache diagnostics.DiscussionPrevious studies have shown that a single question from a self-administered questionnaire can be used to screen for chronic headache. However, a precise headache diagnosis requires an interview by a physician experienced in headache diagnostics, as diagnoses extracted from questionnaires or provided by lay interviewers are not sufficiently precise.ConclusionsA combination of a screening questionnaire and a clinical interview by a physician is likely to be a cost-effective method to conduct an epidemiological survey on chronic headache.

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