Web-based headache test offers relief

LONDON - Now you may be able to treat your headache with the click of a mouse.

New research says a web-based headache assessment test can help patients and doctors improve the diagnosis and treatment of one of the most common human ailments.

The Headache Impact Test (HIT), developed by US-based QualityMetric and drug giant Glaxo Wellcome, is an internet-based questionnaire that measures the severity and impact of headaches.

Four studies presented at the Headache 2000 conference in London found it helped to evaluate the seriousness of the headache in more than 1000 patients and to diagnose migraines. It can also help to track a patient's progress over time.

"I know that many patients with headaches are not achieving the quality of life that they should expect and are suffering needlessly," said Dr Andrew Dowson, of King's College Hospital in London.

"One of the key problems is that many patients with headaches find it hard to communicate their degree of disability to doctors," he said. "New assessment tools of this kind should improve the situation dramatically."

The test measures the severity of the headache and how much it limits the patient's ability to function. The higher the score on a series of questions, the more severe the problem is.

An estimated 96 per cent of women and 91 per cent of men suffer from some type of headache during their lives. The severity ranges from mild discomfort to crippling pain.

Cluster and tension headaches and migraines, which afflict 120 million people in the developed world, are among the most common.

Headaches can be the primary problem or an indication of something more serious such as a tumour.

"Whilst we won't find a cure for headache, we will increase ways of understanding disorders that affect so many of the world's population," said the conference chairman, Dr Timothy Steiner, of Imperial College School of Medicine in London.

- REUTERS

Headache Impact Test