BPB Reports

Paper Details

BPB Reports
Vol. 6 No. 6 p.229-235 2023
Report
The Current State of Headache Treatment and the Involvement of Pharmacists in Treatment of People with Chronic Headache
  • Masakazu Ishii (Division of Physiology and Pathology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo Heisei University / masakazu.ishii@thu.ac.jp)
Masakazu Ishii 1) , Hirotaka Katoh 2) , Tamotsu Kijima 3) , Ikumi Ito 4)
1) Division of Physiology and Pathology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo Heisei University , 2) Kuramae Kato Medical Clinic , 3) Kijima Neurosurgery Clinic , 4) Division of Community Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo Heisei University
Received: October 26, 2023;   Accepted: November 05, 2023;   Released: December 26, 2023
Keywords: headache, migraine, pharmacist
Abstracts

To clarify the current status and challenges of pharmacist involvement in headache treatment, we conducted a questionnaire survey of people who were aware of having headaches. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the Internet of 600 subjects between the ages of 20 and 40 who had suffered from headaches in the past three months. Subjects were divided into a migraine (n = 250, 55.2% women) and other headache (n = 350, 46.3% women) groups. The degree of interference with daily life was higher in the migraine group than in the other headache group. Regarding headache consultations with pharmacists, many people in the migraine group had not consulted a pharmacist even when the severity was high; however, 43.5% of those who had consulted a pharmacist had been recommended to see a doctor. Regarding the status of medical visits, approximately half of the migraine group did not visit a doctor even when the degree of disability was high, and only 44.4% of the migraine group were treated with prescription drugs. Regarding the level of awareness of headaches caused by overuse of analgesics, the majority of respondents in both groups answered “I don't know” or “I hardly know.” Since many people with headache are treated with over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, pharmacists are required to follow up with those who are treating their headaches with OTC drugs, and to recommend treatment with prescription drugs if their headaches are interfering with their daily lives.