Treatment patterns and characteristics of headache in patients in Japan: A retrospective cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of health insurance claims data

Background The present study aimed to investigate prescription patterns for patients aged over 17 years with headaches in the REZULT database. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study (Study 1) of the proportion of over-prescription of acute medications (≥30 tablets/90 days for triptans, combina...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCephalalgia Vol. 44; no. 1; p. 3331024231226177
Main Authors Katsuki, Masahito, Matsumori, Yasuhiko, Ichihara, Taisuke, Yamada, Yuya, Kawamura, Shin, Kashiwagi, Kenta, Koh, Akihito, Goto, Tetsuya, Kaneko, Kazuma, Wada, Naomichi, Yamagishi, Fuminori
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2024
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Background The present study aimed to investigate prescription patterns for patients aged over 17 years with headaches in the REZULT database. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study (Study 1) of the proportion of over-prescription of acute medications (≥30 tablets/90 days for triptans, combination non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and multiple types; ≥45 tablets/90 days for single NSAIDs) among patients with headache diagnosed in 2020. We longitudinally studied (Study 2) patients for >2 years from initial headache diagnosis (July 2010 to April 2022). The number of prescribed tablets was counted every 90 days. Results In Study 1, headache was diagnosed in 200,055 of 3,638,125 (5.5%) patients: 13,651/200,055 (6.8%) received acute medication. Single NSAIDs were prescribed to 12,297/13,651 (90.1%) patients and triptans to 1710/13,651 (12.5%). Over-prescription was found in 2262/13,651 (16.6%) patients and 1200/13,651 (8.8%) patients received prophylactic medication. In Study 2, 408,183/6,840,618 (6.0%) patients were first diagnosed with headaches, which persisted for ≥2 years. Over time, the proportion of patients over-prescribed acute medications increased. Over 2 years, 37,617/408,183 (9.2%) patients were over-prescribed acute medications and 29,313/408,183 (7.2%) patients were prescribed prophylaxis at least once. Conclusions According to real-world data, prophylaxis remains poorly prescribed, and both acute and prophylactic treatment rates for headaches have increased over time.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0333-1024
1468-2982
DOI:10.1177/03331024231226177