[The treatment of migraine by pharmacists: a French multicenter study]

Migraine remains an under-diagnosed disease. Many migraine sufferers are not currently treated within the healthcare system and most of them take self-medication. A prospective national study was conducted in France with 770 pharmacies. Data on symptoms, drug dispensing, patient management, and satisfaction of 7 264 subjects complaining of headache at the pharmacy were collected. Two-third of the subjects were migraine sufferers according to the IHS criteria. 32 p. cent of them came to the pharmacy during a pain attack. 63 p. cent had a medical prescription (46 p. cent in the non-migraine group) with triptans being most often prescribed drug (in almost half of the cases). Nearly one-third of the migraine sufferers without medical prescription were referred to a doctor by the pharmacist. This first study on migraine and headaches and pharmacies highlights the important role that pharmacists can play in improving the management of migraine and headache through advice and proper orientation towards medical practitioners.