According to research published in the March issue of Cephalgia, a 12-item case-finding tool correctly classifies most people with migraine and chronic migraine. The tool, which is called Identify Chronic Migraine (ID-CM), classifies migraine with a sensitivity of 83.5% and a specificity of 88.5% and chronic migraine with a sensitivity of 80.6% and a specificity of 88.6%.
Migraine and chronic migraine in particular, is under diagnosed and undertreated, said Richard B. Lipton, MD, Vice Chair of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and colleagues. The authors sought to to develop a valid case-finding tool for chronic migraine that would be applicable to people who reported severe headache.
“The ID-CM has been rigorously evaluated and has strong psychometric properties and high classification accuracy, both for migraine and chronic migraine,” said Dr.Lipton. “Compared with other well-known and highly regarded screening and diagnostic tools for various disease/disorders, the classification accuracy of ID-CM was both absolutely and relatively strong…. The simplicity and accuracy of ID-CM will enable health care professionals with or without training in neurology, pain, or headache to correctly identify the majority of patients with migraine or chronic migraine,” Dr. Lipton said. “Clinicians will then be able to accurately diagnose or refer affected patients to specialists for effective treatment that will reduce the burden of illness experienced by those with migraine and chronic migraine.”
Neurology Reviews
May, 2016