[Examining the diagnostic accuracy of a new migraine screener].

BACKGROUND

Migraine affects more than 10% of the Hungarian population, causes significant disability and severely affects patients' generic and condition-specific quality of life. Despite these facts, a significant proportion of patients is not diagnosed and not treated adequately. Headache centres can provide care for only a fraction of all patients. The task of primary care providers would be greatly simplified by a reliable self-administered migraine screening questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a short and reliable questionnaire as a migraine screening tool.

METHODS

Outpatients at the Headache Service, Department of Neurology, Semmelweis University completed a self-administered questionnaire which contained 9 yes/no questions about their headaches' characteristics. The number of 'yes' answers (the patients' total score) was evaluated in connection with the diagnosis based on the International Headache Society criteria. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value as well as the misclassification rate for each total score value and used these to establish the final cutoff value of the questionnaire. 306 patients (242 females, mean age 39.1 ± 13.3 years) were enrolled. The diagnosis was migraine in 244.

RESULTS

Completing the questionnaire did not pose any difficulty for the patients. At a cutoff value of 5 points the questionnaire's sensitivity was 0.96 and specificity was 0.61. The positive predictive value was 0.91 and the negative pre- dictive value was 0.81. The misclassification rate was 0.11.

DISCUSSION

Our results show that the questionnaire may help the diagnosis of migraine. In order to use it in medical practice, its further evaluation is necessary on a large representative sample of the Hungarian population.