Patients’ preferences for headache acute and preventive treatment

BACKGROUND: We aimed to explore patients’ preferences for headache treatments with a self-administered questionnaire including the Q-No questionnaire for nocebo. METHODS: Questionnaires from 514 outpatients naïve to neurostimulation and monoclonal antibodies were collected. RESULTS: Patients assessed that the efficacy of a treatment is more important than safety or route of administration. They preferred to use an external neurostimulation device for both acute (67.1%) and preventive treatment (62.8%). Most patients preferred to take a pill (86%) than any other drug given parenterally for symptomatic pharmaceutical treatment. For preventive pharmaceutical treatment, most patients preferred to take a pill once per day (52%) compared to an injection either subcutaneously or intravenously each month (9% and 4%), or three months (15% and 11%). 56.6% of all participants scored more than 15 in Q-No questionnaire indicating potential nocebo behaviors that contributed significantly in their choices. CONCLUSION: These patient preferences along with efficacy and safety data may help physicians better choose the right treatment for the right person.