Faris Alzahrani
Background: Headache is the commonest neurological complaint in primary care setting (about 7% of visits) with estimated global burden that is increasing with time.
Aim: To determine primary healthcare physicians' knowledge about headache disorders.
Design and setting: This cross sectional study was done in primary care centers affiliated with National Guard Health Affairs- western region, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: Eighty-five primary healthcare physicians were enrolled. The participants were asked to fill a questionnaire covering multiple demographic, factual and practical aspects of headache disorders. Student t test and analysis of variance were used for differences in means. Linear regression was used to identify the correlation between variables. This study used p < 0.05 to determine the significance.
Results: Fifty-five physicians responded (response rate= 65%). Forty-five percent of the total respondents were classified as having inadequate knowledge. The participants showed to significant difference in their knowledge about “primary” in comparison to “secondary” headache disorders (p value = 0.06). There was no association between the number of patients seen in the clinic and better management for those patients (p value = 0.84). In contrast, Physicians who had better score in “general knowledge” questions had better score in questions concerning the management (p = 0.039).
Conclusion: knowledge about headache disorders at primary healthcare setting needs further improvement. Educational programs directed to treating physicians can significantly improve their knowledge. This can result in a decrease in the rate of unnecessary referrals, use of neuroimaging and cost.
