Are doctors accurate when diagnosing themselves with migraine? A study on migraine prevalence among doctors in a tertiary care hospital.

Migraine is considered an underdiagnosed disease in general population. Different studies show a higher prevalence in neurologists. However, there are few studies about its prevalence in doctors of other specialties, where it could also be superior than in general population. Our aim was to define migraine lifetime prevalence among doctors according to three parameters (previous diagnosis, self-diagnosis and positivity of a screening test). Single-center, descriptive, cross-sectional study based on online surveys with collection of sociodemographic and clinical variables, addressed to doctors of a tertiary hospital. Participants who reported 5 or more headaches throughout their lives were considered "headache sufferers" and were divided in different groups according to their position (specialists or trainees) and their specialty (medical, medical-surgical and surgical or specialties with no direct contact with the patient). The Spanish validated version of the Migraine Screen Questionnaire (MS-Q) was used as screening test. There were 217 participants (response rate of 29%), 72% were women and 56% trainees, mean age 34 years (SD10). 77% were "headache sufferers" Among all participants, migraine lifetime prevalence according to diagnosis by another physician was 15.2%, self-diagnosis 38.2% and positivity of the MS-Q 20.3%; those categories were not mutually exclusive Greater but not statistically significant coexistence of self-diagnosis and positive MS-Q was seen in specialists compared to trainees and in medical specialties. Migraine prevalence among doctors in a tertiary care hospital was higher than in general population, according to all three parameters analyzed. Self-diagnosis was the highest which could reflect an overdiagnosis; further studies are needed to determine this possibility.