Study on management of headache by general practitioners in South Italy

The impact of migraine headaches is one of the major public health problems in several industrialised countries, with many patients reporting frequent and significant disability. Previous studies have assessed general practitioners' (GPs) perceptions towards evidence-based medicine (EBM) and its influence on health care decisions. Of 500 questionnaires distributed, responses were received from 455 for a response rate of 91%. Respondents' awareness of technical terms used in EBM indicated that only 27.2% of GPs agreed that clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of treatments and this awareness was higher in those who learned about migraine from scientific journals or continuing education courses and who attended courses on epidemiology or EBM. Training and continuing educational programmes on EBM and guidelines in terms of treatments of headache for GPs are strongly needed.