Twenty-one patients were enrolled in the study. There were 4 males and 17
females. Age range was from 21 to 65. One patient never experienced any
migraines during the study period, and two patients failed to return migraine
diaries despite verbally reporting headache relief. Three patients (14%)
were Sumatriptan failures. The remaining patients completed the study and
their results are analyzed. These 15 patients included 3 males and 12 females
whose age ranged from 21 to 65. These patients had a total of 111 headaches
during the 3 month evaluation. Table
one summarizes medication use prior to attempting Sumatriptan therapy.
When asked why they had not previously used triptan therapy, 12 of 15 had
never been offered, 2 were offered previously but were concerned about side
effects and 1 was concerned about the medication price.
Patients answered survey questions on a seven point scale – very
satisfied, satisfied, somewhat satisfied, neutral, somewhat dissatisfied,
dissatisfied, and very dissatisfied. The three satisfied answers were
grouped as were the three dissatisfied answers to simplify the most of
the data. The baseline results for most of the questions are given in
Chart One.
The final study results for most of the questions are given in Chart
Two. Again, most of the data was grouped to simplify the data. Compared
to the baseline results, there is a higher level of patient satisfaction.
The two most important satisfaction questions are analyzed separately.
Chart Three compares patient
answers for the question “How effective the medication is overall
at relieving your migraine pain and other migraine symptoms” on
the seven point scale. Chart
Four compares patient answers for the question “Please rate
how satisfied you are with the overall quality of medical care that you
received for migraine” on the seven point scale. Again, there is
a clear increase in the degree of patient satisfaction with the sumatriptan
therapy. Thirteen of fifteen patients preferred sumatriptan, one preferred
their prior treatment, and one stated no preference.
Resource utilization was also compared. The patients had no ER visits
during the study period and 1 visit in the prior 3 months. There were
no unscheduled office visits for migraine treatment during the study and
3 visits during the prior 3 months. There were 5 scheduled office visits
for migraine during the study versus 9 office visits during the three
months prior. Among the 8 patients who were employed, there was a 59%
decrease in missed work days (18.5 to 8), and a 57% decrease in days at
work with a migraine (80 to 34.5).
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