Prevalence of headaches in individuals referred from primary care to secondary care

Background: Improve the quality of public health is a growing necessity today. Identifying reasons for medical referral (from general to specialized care) is a prelude for developing educational initiatives that have this goal. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of headaches as a cause of referra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Revista Headache Medicine (Online) Vol. 2; no. 4; pp. 200 - 203
Main Authors:	Rodrigues, Joismar Manuel, Caires, Vanessa Vilela, Fontoura, Kátia Beatriz Costa, Silva, Teresa Cristina Santos, Goulart, Simone Fonseca, Rocha, Cláudia Marcucci, Teixeira, Antônio Lúcio, Silva Junior, Ariovaldo Alberto da
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	31-12-2011
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Background: Improve the quality of public health is a growing necessity today. Identifying reasons for medical referral (from general to specialized care) is a prelude for developing educational initiatives that have this goal. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of headaches as a cause of referral from the primary to the secondary level of public medical care. Methods: First-time referrals from four primary care units to neurology care were assessed. Results: Sample consisted of 587 individuals referred to neurology consultation. Headache was the cause of referral in 31.2% of the individuals; 79.2% of the headache cases were in women. Rates for other diseases were lower and are presented for benchmarking. Conclusion: Headache represented an important cause of demand for neurological care. Education initiatives on principles of headache management are necessary and may translate into decreased referral rates to neurologists.
ISSN:	2763-6178 2763-6178
DOI:	10.48208/HeadacheMed.2011.29