Medication overuse headache and awareness

ABSTRACT Background: Medication overuse headache (MOH) is the worsening of an underlying headache due to the overuse of its acute treatment. Unintentionally, healthcare professionals may contribute to this condition. Health professionals play an important role in preventing this increasingly frequent and difficult-to-treat condition. Objective: To investigate MOH awareness among physicians with headache through a survey conducted among medical doctors on our university campus. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study about MOH awareness. The total number of medical doctors working in the Dokuz Eylül University Health Campus was provided by the administrative unit. A total of 18 questions were prepared and administered on a voluntary basis to obtain information about MOH awareness. Results: A total of 312 medical doctors were surveyed, including 198 (63.5%) from internal medical sciences, 81 (26%) from surgical medical sciences, and 33 (10.5%) from basic medical sciences. Half of the physicians in our sample were unaware of MOH. Our results showed that awareness of MOH, was quite low even among medical doctors. Conclusions: MOH causes both labor and financial losses to countries and impairs the quality of life of patients. Preventing excessive use of medications by raising awareness among doctors is an important step to prevent the development of MOH.

摘要
背景：药物过量性头痛（Medication Overuse Headache, MOH）是指因急性治疗药物过度使用而导致原发性头痛加重的病症。医护人员可能在无意之中促成该病症的发生，且其在预防这一愈发常见且难治的病症中发挥着关键作用。
研究目的：通过在本校校园范围内对医师开展的问卷调查，调研医师群体对MOH的认知水平。
研究方法：本研究为一项关于MOH认知水平的观察性横断面研究。行政部门提供了德布泽·埃于尔大学（Dokuz Eylül University）健康校区在职医师的总人数。研究共设计18个问题，以自愿参与的方式开展调查，以收集关于MOH认知水平的相关信息。
研究结果：本次调查共纳入312名医师，其中内科学相关科室198名（占比63.5%）、外科学相关科室81名（占比26%）、基础医学相关科室33名（占比10.5%）。本样本中近半数医师对MOH缺乏认知。研究结果显示，即便在医师群体中，对MOH的认知水平也普遍偏低。
研究结论：MOH不仅会给各国造成人力与财力损失，还会严重损害患者的生活质量。通过提升医师群体的认知水平，引导其避免药物过度使用，是预防MOH发生的重要举措。