Patient self rated pain: headache versus migraine a retrospective chart review.

Background: The International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3) uses moderate or severe pain intensity in the diagnostic criterion for migraine. However, few studies have analyzed pain rating on a visual analog scale to identify the numerical intensity that correlates with migraine.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of daily self-rated headache pain among patients with either episodic or chronic migraine. This study specifically aims to evaluate the probability of patients labeling their head pain as a headache vs. migraine based on the pain level reported.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on patients with a clinical diagnosis of migraine from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2019.

Results: Data of 114 subjects (57 episodic migraine and 57 chronic migraine) were used for analysis. Patients with episodic migraine on average rated a migraine more severe than a headache (4.1 vs. 6.4; p < 0.001). Patients with chronic migraine on average also rated migraine more severe than a headache (4.3 vs. 6.8; p = 0.0054). Chronic migraine patients transitioned from calling head pain a headache to a migraine significantly later than episodic migraine patients (4.5 vs. 6.8; p < 0.05).

Conclusion: A migraine is perceived as having higher pain intensity than a headache in patients with both episodic and chronic migraine. On average, patients with chronic migraine had a higher pain rating at which they report head pain to be considered a migraine.