A migraine treatment breakthrough will be discussed today at the
American Academy of Neurology annual meeting. Results of an
international trial sponsored by AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) show that MIDAS,
an innovative, yet simple, five-question form, helps migraine patients
find appropriate medication the first time they talk to their doctor.
Without this tool, many patients suffer through a lengthy and
inefficient treatment process starting with simple analgesics and
working their way up to more potent medications when previous
medications fail.
The MIDAS questionnaire, for Migraine Disability Assessment Scale, is
designed to allow patients with severe migraine to skip simple
analgesics in the course of treatment. In the past, physicians have not
had a clinically relevant reliable tool to assess disability at the
onset of treatment, so they have started patients with a simple
analgesic, regardless of the severity of their migraine attacks.
Doctors use MIDAS to measure a sufferer’s disability and assign a score
based on answers to questions about time lost from the workplace,
housework and leisure activities. This information helps physicians to
select the most appropriate treatment plan, giving simple analgesics
like aspirin to patients with lower scores and prescribing more powerful
medications to patients with higher scores.
