• Virginie Dousset, Martial Maud, Mélanie Legoff, Françoise Radat, Bruno Brochet, Jean-François Dartigues, and Tobias Kurth.
• Centre Douleur Chronique, Hôpital Pellegrin, Place Amélie Raba Léon, 33 076 Bordeaux, Cedex, France. virginie.dousset@chu-bordeaux.fr.
• J Headache Pain. 2013 Jan 1;14:81.

BackgroundTo validate a rapid questionnaire as a screening tool, because application of the diagnostic revised criteria of the ICHD-II for medication overuse headache (MOH) requires experience for the physician and is time-consuming.MethodsICHD-II criteria for probable MOH (pMOH) were transformed in questions formulated in such a way that they could be self-administered, easily understood, and quickly filled out. We compared this questionnaire to the gold standard: the diagnosis made by headache specialists, based on the the ICHD-II criteria. Patients who were consulting for pMOH or migraine for the first time were consecutively included. As validity indicators, we calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the items.ResultsSeventy-nine patients were screened, 77 included, 2 female patients excluded. Forty-two patients have been considered as suffering from pMOH, 35 patients suffered from migraine without medication overuse. The association of the question "do you take a treatment for attacks more than 10 days per month" and the question "is this intake on a regular basis?" had a sensitivity of 95.2% and a specificity of 80%.ConclusionThis screening tool can detect pMOH with a sensitivity that could be of interest to screen patients in clinical practice and to pre-include patients for research as epidemiological studies.

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