TABLE 1.
Baseline patient characteristics
| Characteristic | Years, mean (SD) |
|---|---|
| Total cohort, no. (all female) | 55 |
| Age | 35.3 (9) |
| Duration of chronic headache | 10.4 (8.4) |
| Duration of chronic headaches by subgroup | |
| Migraine prior to IIH | 15.6 (8.2), (52%, n = 28) |
| No migraine prior to IIH | 5.1 (4.3), (48%, n = 27) |
| Duration of headache following resolution of papilledema (ocular remission) | 1.7 (2.5) |
| History of previous preventative treatment failure | Mean (SD) |
|---|---|
| Drug treatment trial attempts a | 2.2 (1.5) |
| Failed drugs b | 3.7 (0.9) |
| No. (%) | |
|---|---|
| Trial attempt of ≥1 | 49 (89%) |
| Trial attempt of ≥2 | 33 (60%) |
| Trial attempt of ≥3 | 20 (36%) |
| Trial attempt of ≥4 | 13 (24%) |
| Failure of ≥3 | 55 (100%) |
| Clinical characteristic | No. (%) |
|---|---|
| Migraine prior to IIH | 28 (52%) |
| No migraine prior to IIH | 27 (48%) |
| Childhood migraine | 9 (16%) |
| Teenage migraine | 26 (47%) |
| Family history of migraine | 24 (44%) |
| Medication overuse headache (MOH) | 27 (48%) |
| Opioid use | 16 (29%) |
| Mental health comorbidities (anxiety/depression) | 22 (40%) |
| Significant alcohol history | 0 |
| Mean (SD), unless otherwise specified | |
|---|---|
| Monthly moderate/severe headache days (MmsHD) | |
| Baseline | 16.1 (4.7) |
| 12 months prior | 14.5 (5.2) |
| Monthly total headache days (MHD) | |
| Baseline [median (IQR)] | 29.0 (2.3) [30 (30–30)] |
| 12 months prior [median (IQR)] | 28.3 (3.8) [30 (30–30)] |
| Headache severity (NRS) baseline | |
| Baseline | 6 (1.3) |
| 12 months prior | 6.2 (1.7) |
| Monthly analgesic days | 9 (7.3) |
| Monthly triptan days | 2.9 (4.1) |
| Monthly crystal clear days [median (IQR)] | 0.9 (2.1) [0 (0–0)] |
| Monthly absenteeism days [median (IQR)] | 11.8 (11.5) [7.5 (2–20)] |
| Monthly presenteeism days [median (IQR)] | 21.1 (8) [20 (15–30)] |
| HADS anxiety score | 10.1 (4.6) |
| HADS depression score | 8.9 (4.3) |
| HIT‐6 score | 67.2 (4.4) |
| Q‐No score | 15.3 (6.5) |
| SF‐36—Physical summary score c | 36.3 (18) |
| SF‐36—Mental summary score c | 38.2 (15.6) |
a
Drug treatment attempts: ineffective/intolerant.
b
Failed drugs: ineffective/intolerant/contraindicated/safety concerns.
c
n = 53.
Abbreviations: HADS, hospital anxiety and depression scale; HIT‐6, headache impact test‐6; IIH, idiopathic intracranial hypertension; IQR, Interquartile range; MHD, monthly total headache days; MmsHD, monthly moderate/severe headache days; NRS, numeric rating scale (0 = no pain to 10 = worst imaginable pain); Q‐No, four‐item self‐fulfilled questionnaire to predict nocebo effect; SF‐36, Short Form‐36 Health Survey.