Samenvatting
Objective
To investigate whether the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) can detect clinically relevant changes.
Background
The HIT-6 is a short comprehensive questionnaire measuring the impact of headache on patients quality of life. To evaluate treatment outcome it needs to be responsive and the clinically relevant difference expressed in points needs to be determined.
Methods
Headache sufferers were recruited in an open population and asked to complete the HIT-6 twice with a six weeks interval. In this period no treatment was started nor changed. A general headache questionnaire was used to make an inventory of clinical patient characteristics such as headache frequency and intensity.
HIT-6 responsiveness was assessed via Minimal Detectable Change and by optimal cut off points on ROC-curves. Global Perceived Effect (GPE) was used as external criterion.
Results and discussion
A total of 91 headache sufferers completed the HIT-6 twice. Mean HIT-6-score at both measuring moments was 62.13 points ± 6.34 points and 60.29 points ± 7.18 points, respectively.
After 6 weeks, 9 patients perceived their headache to be improved, 82 perceived no change or deterioration. Using GPE as the external criterion, the Minimal Detectable Change was 4.06 points. The Area Under the Curve was 0.79. A cut off value of 4.50 points corresponded with a sensitivity of 0.71 and a specificity of 0.81.
Conclusion
These results suggest that the HIT-6 is a responsive tool. The values of the 4.06 points and 4.50 points can be used to identify clinical relevant changes in daily practice.
To investigate whether the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) can detect clinically relevant changes.
Background
The HIT-6 is a short comprehensive questionnaire measuring the impact of headache on patients quality of life. To evaluate treatment outcome it needs to be responsive and the clinically relevant difference expressed in points needs to be determined.
Methods
Headache sufferers were recruited in an open population and asked to complete the HIT-6 twice with a six weeks interval. In this period no treatment was started nor changed. A general headache questionnaire was used to make an inventory of clinical patient characteristics such as headache frequency and intensity.
HIT-6 responsiveness was assessed via Minimal Detectable Change and by optimal cut off points on ROC-curves. Global Perceived Effect (GPE) was used as external criterion.
Results and discussion
A total of 91 headache sufferers completed the HIT-6 twice. Mean HIT-6-score at both measuring moments was 62.13 points ± 6.34 points and 60.29 points ± 7.18 points, respectively.
After 6 weeks, 9 patients perceived their headache to be improved, 82 perceived no change or deterioration. Using GPE as the external criterion, the Minimal Detectable Change was 4.06 points. The Area Under the Curve was 0.79. A cut off value of 4.50 points corresponded with a sensitivity of 0.71 and a specificity of 0.81.
Conclusion
These results suggest that the HIT-6 is a responsive tool. The values of the 4.06 points and 4.50 points can be used to identify clinical relevant changes in daily practice.
| Originele taal-2 | English |
|---|---|
| Pagina's (van-tot) | 79 |
| Aantal pagina's | 1 |
| Tijdschrift | Cephalalgia |
| Volume | S1 |
| Nummer van het tijdschrift | 29 |
| Status | Published - okt. 2009 |
| Evenement | Unknown - Stockholm, Sweden Duur: 21 sep. 2009 → 25 sep. 2009 |