Table.

Characteristics of study subjects and their use of sumatriptan in relation to peak sumatriptan consumption. Values are numbers (percentages) unless indicated otherwise

	Peak sumatriptan use*
	<30 (n=29)	30-59 (n=30)	⩾60 (n=7)
Median (interquartile range) age	47 (41-50)	46 (40-51)	50 (47-64)
Women	26 (90)	23 (77)	4 (57)
Schooling ⩾11 years	10 (35)	7 (23)	0
Current smoker	4 (14)	9 (30)	5 (71)
Median (interquartile range) alcoholic beverages consumed per week	3 (2-4)	3 (0-4)	2 (1-3)
Headache type†:
Migraine	25 (86)	26 (87)	4 (57)
Tension	26 (93)	30 (100)	4 (67)
Cluster	0	1 (3)	1 (14)
Drug induced	4 (14)	14 (47)	6 (86)
Use of drugs
Sumatriptan‡:
Median (interquartile range) individual consumption	108 (46-204)	522 (296-651)	832 (248-1048)
Median (interquartile range) duration of sumatriptan use (days)	938 (753-1267)	1349 (1159-1413)	1064 (645-1426)
Previous dependence on medicine (headache drugs, hypnotics, or opioids)‡	2 (7)	14 (47)	4 (57)
Chronic use of drugs for acute relief of headache‡:
Current	6 (21)	13 (43)	5 (71)
Previous	4 (14)	6 (20)	1 (14)
Criteria for inappropriate sumatriptan use†
Chronic use and no diagnosis of cluster headache	1 (3)	10 (33)	6 (86)
Frequent use for headaches other than migraine or cluster headache	8 (28)	20 (67)	6 (86)
Frequent use for repetition of ineffective treatment	0	2 (7)	1 (14)
Frequent use for headache prophylaxis	0	1 (3)	0
Fulfilling at least one of the above	8 (28)	22 (73)	6 (86)

^*Defined daily dose units per 30 days, where one defined daily dose unit=100 mg oral sumatriptan or 6 mg subcutaneous sumatriptan.  

^†Not mutually exclusive.  

^‡Information on use of medication was derived through presciption register data for sumatriptan; information on previous dependence on medicine and chronic use of drugs was obtained from self reports.