Unmet Needs in US Migraine Headache Management: OVERCOME Study First Data

March 3, 2022

Findings on use of acute and preventive migraine therapy continue to reveal gaps with far more patients eligible than the proportions using either type.

Lifetime consultation for migraine headache in primary care was common (70.03%), according to the first published findings of the longitudinal multicohort OVERCOME study.

And yet the study also found that the proportions of patients with migraine who are eligible for both acute and preventive treatment are far greater than those using the treatments; in fact, the study found that even lifetime use of migraine-specific and widely available triptans is currently only 22.7%.

Led by well known migraine expert and investigator Richard Lipton, MD, of the department of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, OVERCOME is monitoring changes in patterns of consultation, diagnosis, and acute and preventive treatment for migraine to help identify unmet needs in care and inform treatment decisions.

The findings summarized in the slide show below highlight cross-sectional data for the first cohort in the multicohort study.

Creating the OVERCOME study cohort to assess trends in migraine treatment in the US.

Migraine characteristics across the final cohort of the OVERCOME study.

Demographics of migraineurs participating in the OVERCOME longitudinal study, first cohort.

5 most common migriane symptoms and associated disability among OVERCOME study participants.

Consultation for migraine overall was high, particularly in primary care, according to OVERCOME study findings.

Medical consulation for migraine overall was 51% with an average of 2.9 visits; but median number of consults across the cohort was low, particuarly given the level of migraine-related disability reported.

Lifetime use of acute migraine medication was high but current use was just 40%; lifetime use of triptans was 35% but current use, only 27.7%.

Current use of migraine preventive treatment was only 16.8% and lifetime use was 26%, yet 40.4% of survey respondents were eligible for preventive treatment.

As migraine severity increased, fewer of those eligible for preventive treatment were currently using it; concerning given the proportion of respondents with moderate or severe MIDAS scores.

OVERCOME study findings were compared with previous migraine large-scale surveys; results suggest that rates of reported migraine diagnosis have risen as have visits to EDs.