Migraine education brochures and patient-perceived satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION: Brochures are commonly used as educational tools in daily neurological practice. They are provided to increase the general population's knowledge of a specific disease and also to combat sources of erroneous information. Surveys are the most commonly used method of ascertaining user satisfaction with services received. OBJECTIVES: This study will assess patient-perceived satisfaction and provide feedback to measure the comprehensibility and overall utility of an educational brochure on migraine. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Open prospective multicentre study of a group of patients diagnosed with migraine in neurology clinics in Alicante province. During the initial visit, each patient received a migraine brochure prepared by the Valencian Society of Neurology's study group for headaches (CEFALIC). During a follow-up visit, they were then asked to fill out a personal survey on the overall quality of the information in the brochure. RESULTS: We included a total of 257 patients diagnosed with migraine (83% episodic migraine; 17% chronic migraine); mean age was 37.6 years. Two hundred seven patients confirmed having read the brochure (80.5%); 50 patients (19.5%) either forgot to read it or had no interest in doing so. The brochure seemed interesting and easy to understand according to 90% of the patients. Seventy-six per cent of the respondents stated that reading the brochure increased their overall knowledge of migraine, while 50% of the patients found the brochure useful for improving migraine control. CONCLUSIONS: Patients found the migraine educational brochure to be comprehensible, a means of increasing overall knowledge of the disease, and useful for increasing control over migraines. Evaluations of the educational brochures that we provide to our patients with migraine should be studied to discover the causes of dissatisfaction, determine the level of quality of service, and investigate potential areas for improvement.

Cefalea menstrual: subtipos, fenotipos clínicos y tratamiento / Menstrual headache: subtypes, clinical phenotypes and treatment

Introducción. Más del 60% de las mujeres refieren presentar cefalea relacionada con el ciclo menstrual. Se ha incluido la ‘migraña menstrual’ en la segunda edición de la Clasificación Internacional de las Cefaleas; sin embargo, la ‘cefaleatensional durante la menstruación’ es una entidad no reconocida por la Sociedad Internacional de Cefaleas.Objetivos. Evaluar la prevalencia de los diferentes subtipos de cefalea menstrual y analizar sus características clínicas y eltratamiento prescrito.Pacientes y métodos. Evaluamos de forma prospectiva a todas las mujeres atendidas en varias consultas de neurología,desde enero a noviembre de 2008, cuya cefalea aparecía durante el período menstrual. Resultados. Se incluyeron un total de 108 pacientes durante el período del estudio, con una edad media de 34,8 ± 8,9 años. El 29,3% presentaba migraña menstrual pura, el 58,7% migraña menstrual relacionada con la menstruación, el 4,5% cefalea tensional pura durante la menstruación y el 7,5% cefalea tensional relacionada con la menstruación. Conclusiones. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la cefalea tensional en el contexto de la menstruación existe, con unaprevalencia en torno al 12% en las pacientes valoradas en nuestras consultas (AU)

Introduction. Up to 60% of women relate their episodes of headache to menstrual cycle. Menstrual migraine has been included in the second edition of the International Classification of Headache disorders. Menstrual tension-type headache has not yet been recognised by the International Headache Society. Aims. To evaluate the prevalence of different subtypes of menstrual headache and to analyze their clinical features and the treatment prescribed. Patients and methods. We prospectively included women attending several neurology outpatient clinics, from January toNovember 2008 whose headache appeared during the menstrual period. Results. A total of 108 patients were included during the study period. Mean age was 34.8 ± 8.9 years-old. 29.3% sufferedfrom pure menstrual migraine, 58.7% from menstrual related migraine, 4.5% from pure menstrual tension-type headacheand 7.5% from menstrual related tension type headache.Conclusions. Our data suggest that menstrual related tension-type headaches exist with a prevalence found about 12%, inour neurology outpatient clinics

[Cost effectiveness of the diagnostic study of dementia in an extra-hospital Neurology service]. / Rentabilidad del estudio diagnóstico de la demencia en una consulta extrahospitalaria de Neurología.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to analyse the cost effectiveness of the complementary tests in the diagnosis of reversible causes of dementia in an extra-hospital Neurology service. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients referred to the Neurology service from Primary Care with a diagnosis of dementia according to DSM-III-R criteria. The following routine complementary tests were performed: 1. Analyses, including blood count, biochemical study, vitamin B12 and folic levels, thyroid hormones, and syphilis serodiagnosis; 2. Neuroimaging study, consisting in computerised axial tomography or cranial magnetic resonance. RESULTS: A total of 269 consecutive patients diagnosed as suffering from dementia were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 74.5 years (49-94 years) and 61% were females. The most frequent cause of dementia was Alzheimer's disease (79.9%). In all, 31 patients presented potentially reversible conditions (11.5%), but if we exclude depression, the dementia was only reversible in one patient (0.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of patients with reversible causes of dementia in the field of extra-hospital neurology is low. The diagnostic study must be individualised according to the clinical suspicion.