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Instrument Summary for Headaches

Please note that this section is an archive and is no longer being updated.

Development: Derived primarily from the lengthier Headache Impact Questionnaire (HImQ), the Migraine Disability Assessment Questionnaire (MIDAS) consists of five items that assess the frequency of recent headache-related disruptions in work and other activities. The scale was developed by Stewart and colleagues in response to the "practical limitations of the HImQ" and published in 1999.

Purpose: The MIDAS assesses "headache-related disability". Specifically, respondents are asked to indicate the number of days in the past three months during which headache symptoms prevented or impaired activities in three categories: work or school; household work; and social, family, or leisure activities. The authors endorsed the use of the MIDAS for screening patients in both clinic and population-based settings. Since its publication, the MIDAS has been used as an outcome measure in several clinical trials for headache.

Useful Facts: The MIDAS is a self-administered, written questionnaire. It is scored by summing the number of headache-related disability days endorsed on items 1-5. Two additional items provide information about headache frequency and severity, but are not scored. The MIDAS is available in many western European languages as well as in Turkish, Japanese, and others. The MIDAS is easy to administer and sensitive to clinical change.

VA Relevance: No published studies indicated that the HDI has been used among the veteran population.

Availability: The full questionnaire is available as an appendix to the validity paper by Stewart et al. listed below¹ and also online at http://www.midas-migraine.net.

References:

1. Stewart WF, Lipton RB, Kolodner K, Sawyer J, Lee C, Liberman J. Reliability of the migraine disability assessment score in a population-based sample of headache sufferers. Cephalalgia 1999;19:107-114. [Abstract ]
2. Stewart WF, Lipton RB, Whyte J, Dowson A, Kolodner K, Liberman JN, Sawyer J. An international study to assess reliability of the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) score. Neurology 1999;53:988-994. [Abstract ]
3. Andrasik F, Lipchik GL, McCrory DC, Wittrock DA. Outcome measurement in behavioral headache research: headache parameters and psychosocial outcomes. Headache 2005;45:429-437. [Abstract ]

Development: The Headache Disability Inventory (HDI¹) is a 25-item questionnaire developed by Jacobson and colleagues in 1994 to address the need for a headache-specific disability assessment tool. The authors identified internally consistent "emotional" and "functional" subscales for the HDI, although no factor analytic work to date has been conducted to support these content domains.

Purpose: The HDI assesses self-perceived disability specifically associated with headache.

Useful Facts: The HDI was developed as a self-report questionnaire, but it has also been administered as a telephone interview. The scale consists of 25 first-person statements (e.g., "I feel desperate because of my headaches"; "Because of my headaches I am less likely to socialize") to which respondents may answer "yes", "sometimes", or "no". Scores range from 0 to 100; items are scored 0 ("no"), 2 ("sometimes"), or 4 ("yes"). Published clinical trials suggest that the HDI is sensitive to clinical change.

VA Relevance: No published studies indicated that the HDI has been used among the veteran population.

Availability: The complete HDI is published in the original development article by Jacobson et al (1994).¹

References:

1. Jacobson GP, Ramadan NM, Aggarwal SK, Newman CW. The Henry Ford Hospital Headache Disability Inventory (HDI). Neurology 1994;44:837-842. [Abstract ]
2. Jacobson GP, Ramadan NM, Norris L, Newman CW. Headache Disability Inventory (HDI) - short-term test-retest reliability and spouse perceptions. Headache 1995;35:534-539. [Abstract ]
3. Holroyd KA, O'Donnell FJ, Stenland M, Lipchik GL, Cordingley GE, Carlson BW. Management of chronic tension-type headache with tricyclic antidepressant medication, stress management therapy, and their combination - a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2001;285:2208-2215. [Abstract ]

Development: The Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQoLQ) was developed by Hartmaier, Santanello, Epstein, and Silberstein and published in 1995. The MQoLQ consists of 15 items representing 5 empirically-derived domains: work functioning, social functioning, energy/vitality, migraine symptoms, and feelings/concerns.

Purpose: In contrast to other migraine-related quality of life measures that assess migraine impact over weeks or months, the MQoLQ was designed to assess the acute effects of migraine in the 24-hour period following headache onset. MQoLQ scores were found to be significantly lower on migraine-free days than on days with migraine, supporting its application to short-term assessment

Useful Facts: The MQoLQ is a self-administered written questionnaire. Each item is rated on a 7-point scale; individual domain scores range from 3 to 21 and are calculated by summing the 3 item responses for each domain. The MQoLQ has demonstrated sensitivity to clinically relevant change in treatment studies. A Dutch translation of the MQoLQ has been described in the literature.

VA Relevance: No published studies indicated that the HDI has been used among the veteran population.

Availability: The instrument is published in the original development article by Hartmaier et al (1995).¹

References:

1. Hartmaier SL, Santanello NC, Epstein RS, Silberstein SD. Development of a brief 24-hour migraine-specific quality of life questionnaire. Headache 1995;35:320-329. [Abstract ]
2. Santanello NC, Hartmaier SL, Epstein RS, Silberstein SD. Validation of a new quality of life questionnaire for acute migraine headache. Headache 1995;35:330-337. [Abstract ]
3. Colman SS, Brod MI, Krishnamurthy A, Rowland CR, Jirgens KJ, Gomez-Mancilla B. Treatment satisfaction, functional status, and health-related quality of life of migraine patients treated with almotriptan or sumatriptan. Clin Ther 2001;23:127-145. [Abstract ]