Clinical Profile of Migraine Headache Patients: A Descriptive Study of A Single Tertiary Centre in Malaysia
Abstract Background:Migraine is one of the most common disabling neurological disorder among adult population in Malaysia. Purpose:To evaluate demographic characteristics among the migraine patients.Methods:A total of 73 patients with the complain of headache, who aged 18 to 65 were recruited prospectively at neurology clinic from December 2017 to April 2019 in Kuala Lumpur Hospital. All new patients were mainly referred by primary care clinics. Demographic characteristics such as age and gender, age of onset, clinical phenotypes, trigger factors, rescue therapy, prophylaxis usage, frequency of headache, psychiatric symptoms, marital status and education level were all evaluated. Migraine headaches were coded according to ICHD-III criteria. Statistical analysis was analysed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation were used to evaluate for clinical data.Results:44 out of 73 patients had migraine (60.3%). The mean age of migraine patients was 30 and mean age of onset was 24.8. Majority of the sample were female (36, 81.8%), single (23.52.3%) and with tertiary education level (31, 70.5%). The most frequent symptoms included unilateral headache (36, 81.8%) with throbbing in quality (39, 88.6%). The main trigger factor was stress (23, 52.3%). The most frequently used rescue therapies are sleeping and paracetamol ingestion (18, 40.9%). Most of the patients experienced acute attack 4-14 days in a month (15, 34.1%). 42(95.5%) patients were prophylaxis naïve.ConclusionCharacteristics of the migraine patients in Kuala Lumpur Hospital are comparable with previous studies. A registry of headache patients is crucial to determine the prevalence and local impact of the disease in Malaysia.