Headache education by leaflet distribution during COVID-19 vaccination and school-based on-demand e-learning: Itoigawa Geopark Headache Awareness Campaign.

OBJECTIVE: We prospectively performed the Itoigawa Headache Awareness Campaign from August 2021 to June 2022, with two main interventions, and evaluated its effectiveness. BACKGROUND: Headache is a common public health problem, but its burden could be reduced by raising awareness about headache and the appropriate use of acute and prophylactic medication. However, few studies on raising headache awareness in the general public have been reported. METHODS: The target group was the general public aged 15-64. We performed two main interventions synergistically supported by other small interventions. Intervention 1 included leaflet distribution and a paper-based questionnaire about headache during COVID-19 vaccination, and intervention 2 included on-demand e-learning and online survey through schools. In these interventions, we emphasize the six important topics for the general public that were described in the Clinical Practice Guideline for Headache Disorders 2021. Each response among the two interventions' cohorts was collected on pre and post occasions. The awareness of the six topics before and after the campaign was evaluated. RESULTS: We obtained 4016 valid responses from 6382 individuals who underwent vaccination in intervention 1 and 2577 from 594 students and 1983 parents in intervention 2; thus, 6593 of 20,458 (32.2%) of the overall working-age population in Itoigawa city experienced these interventions. The percentage of individuals' aware of the six topics significantly increased after the two main interventions ranging from 6.6% (39/594)-40.0% (1606/4016) to 64.1% (381/594)-92.6% (1836/1983) (p < 0.001, all). CONCLUSIONS: We conducted this campaign through two main interventions with an improved percentage of individuals who know about headache. The two methods of community-based interventions could raise headache awareness effectively. Furthermore, we can achieve outstanding results by doing something to raise disease awareness during mass vaccination, when almost all residents gather in a certain place, and school-based e-learning without face-to-face instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Questionnaire-Based Survey during COVID-19 Vaccination on the Prevalence of Elderly's Migraine, Chronic Daily Headache, and Medication-Overuse Headache in One Japanese City-Itoigawa Hisui Study.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of headache disorders, migraine, chronic daily headache (CDH), and medication-overuse headache (MOH) among the elderly in Japan has not been sufficiently investigated. We performed a questionnaire-based survey and revealed 3-month headache prevalence and headaches' characteristics. METHODS: The population aged over 64 was investigated in Itoigawa during their third coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination. Migraine, MOH was defined as The International Classification of Headache Disorders Third edition. CDH was defined as a headache occurring at least 15 days per month. K-means++ were used to perform clustering. RESULTS: Among 2858 valid responses, headache disorders, migraine, CDH, and MOH prevalence was 11.97%, 0.91%, 1.57%, and 0.70%, respectively. Combined-analgesic and non-opioid analgesic were widely used. Only one migraineur used prophylactic medication. We performed k-means++ to group the 332 MOH patients into four clusters. Cluster 1 seemed to have tension-type headache-like headache characteristics, cluster 2 seemed to have MOH-like headache characteristics, cluster 3 seemed to have severe headaches with comorbidities such as dyslipidemia, stroke, and depression, and cluster 4 seemed to have migraine-like headache characteristics with photophobia and phonophobia. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest prevalence survey in the Japanese elderly. Headache disorders are still the elderly's burden. Clustering suggested that severe headaches associated with some comorbidities may be unique to the elderly.

Questionnaire-based survey on the prevalence of medication-overuse headache in Japanese one city-Itoigawa study.

OBJECTIVE: The medication-overuse headache (MOH) prevalence has not been investigated in a general Japanese population. We performed questionnaire-based survey and revealed MOH prevalence and its characteristics. We also performed clustering to obtain insight for MOH subgrouping. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the 15-64-year-old population was investigated in Itoigawa during their COVID-19 vaccination under the national policy. MOH was defined as ≥ 15 days/month plus self-report of use of pain medications ≥ 10 or 15 days/month in the last 3 months. Ward method and k-means + + were used to perform clustering MOH patients. RESULTS: Among 5865 valid responses, MOH prevalence was 2.32%. MOH was common among females and the middle-aged. Combination-analgesic is the most overused as 50%. MOH had aggravation by routine physical activity, moderate or severe pain, and migraine-like, compared to non-MOH. The 136 MOH patients could be grouped into 3 clusters. Age and frequency of acute medication use were essential factors for clustering. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study of MOH prevalence in Japan. Most MOH characteristics were similar to previous reports worldwide. Public awareness of proper headache treatment knowledge is still needed. Clustering results may be important for subtype grouping from a social perspective apart from existing clinical subtypes.

[A case of Lemmel syndrome caused by food residue in giant juxtapapillary diverticulum].

A woman in her 70s was admitted to our hospital because of epigastric pain and anorexia. Laboratory evaluations revealed elevated levels of liver transaminases, biliary enzymes, and amylase. CT and MRCP showed dilatation of the bile and pancreatic ducts and a large juxtapapillary diverticulum filled with contents. There were no gallstones or tumors present. Our differential diagnosis included obstruction of the papilla of Vater, so we performed an urgent ERCP. Endoscopic examination showed the juxtapapillary diverticulum filled with food residue;however, we were unable to locate the papilla of Vater. We rinsed out and removed food residue from the diverticulum using a retrieval balloon catheter used for gallstones. After the endoscopic removal of the food residue, the patient's epigastric pain immediately subsided and her cholangitis and pancreatitis improved gradually.

Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia with Syncope Caused by Recurrence of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

We herein report a case of glossopharyngeal neuralgia with repeated syncope caused by the recurrence of esophageal carcinoma. The typical symptoms of glossopharyngeal neuralgia are paroxysmal, stabbing, electric shock-like pain in the pharynx and/or base of the tongue on swallowing and talking. In addition, syncope can also be caused by glossopharyngeal neuralgia. The diagnosis of glossopharyngeal neuralgia is not always easy because of its rarity. In the present case, we suspected that repeated syncope was caused by glossopharyngeal neuralgia due to the recurrence of esophageal carcinoma. Concurrent chemoradiation therapy was effective in reducing the tumor size, which resulted in the complete resolution of the symptoms.

A case of adult-onset type II citrullinemia induced by hospital diet.

A 47-year-old Japanese man was first admitted to our hospital for 8 days because of an asthma attack. After discharge he changed his diet. On the 12th day after his discharge, he was re-admitted to our hospital because he exhibited transient loss of consciousness with flapping tremor. His plasma ammonia level was extremely high (245 µg/dL; normal, <90 µg/dL), suggesting hepatic encephalopathy. He underwent intravenous administration of branched-chain amino acids (Aminoleban(®)) and oral administration of lactulose and kanamycin sulfate; however, the hyperammonemia did not improve. Analysis of the amino acids and citrin gene led to the diagnosis of adult-onset type II citrullinemia (CTLN2). Following this diagnosis, the carbohydrate content of his diet was mildly restricted. As a result, his plasma ammonia level markedly improved (ammonia, 40-60 µg/dL) and he became symptom-free without any medication. CTLN2 is a metabolic disorder characterized by increased plasma concentrations of citrulline and ammonia, which occurs by the failure of compensatory mechanisms associated with diet. Here, we report a case of a patient for whom a change in eating habits during his hospitalization disturbed his compensatory mechanism resulting in clinical CTLN2, which was reversed with an appropriate diet.