Medication Overuse Headache in the US: A National Cross-Sectional Survey

This study was conducted to assess participant understanding of medication-overuse headache (MOH) by adults in the US. It was conducted using an 18 item, descriptive questionnaire which addressed demographic information, frequency and severity of headaches, type of headaches experienced, medication use frequency, perceived risk for MOH of specific medications, and knowledge of the term “medication-overuse or rebound headache.” Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U tests were used in analyzing data. The study included 329 (<i>n</i> = 329) participants. Almost half of respondents were between the ages 18 and 30 years old [155/329 (47.1%)]. The most common type of headache diagnosis reported was tension-type headache [144/329 (43.8%)]. About 10% (31/329) of survey respondents reported chronic daily headache, or headache that is present on at least 15 days per month. Of the survey respondents, 26.7% (88/329) had never heard of the term “medication-overuse headache.” A significant number of participants who reported overusing various medications also reported that they had never heard of the term “medication-overuse headache.” This study shows that many of the respondents, including some who use analgesics or abortive medications for headaches, were not familiar with MOH. Furthermore, it suggests that patients may benefit from further education on this condition.