Rural patients were more likely to present at the emergency department (ED) for migraine than those who live in non-rural areas, an epidemiologic study of 810,388 visits showed. Rural patients were more likely to receive opioid analgesics in the ED as well. Med Page Today reported on the study results from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists midyear meeting. In rural areas in 2019, the rate of ED utilization for migraine was 41.8 per 10,000 population, while non-rural areas saw a rate of 23.4 per 10,000. Opioid prescriptions for migraine in rural areas accounted for 14.6% of ED visits compared with 8% of non-rural ED visits. NSAIDs, antiemetics, and steroids were all prescribed more commonly than opioids for migraine overall, however.
Chronic condition: Managing an episode of acute pain and nausea related to migraine in the ED or urgent care might be a straightforward task, but ongoing chronic migraine management in rural areas with less access to specialty care is more challenging. Urgent care clinicians might not have a referral partner for chronic care for these patients. Migraine is the 5th most common reason for ED visits, according to the news report. Learn more about screening headache patients from the JUCM archive: More Than A Simple Headache: Using The SNNOOP10 Criteria To Screen For Life-Threatening Headache Presentations