Treatment Patterns and Characteristics of Headache Patients in Japan: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis of Health Insurance Claims Dataset REZULT Database

Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a worsening of a pre-existing headache caused by the overuse of acute care drugs, and 2.3% of the working-age population in Japan may suffer from MOH. We analyzed the current status of medically-induced MOH using the REZULT insurance claim database. Of the 15,524 patients with prescriptions, 14,225 (91.6%) were for acute care drugs only, and 1,992 (12.8%) were suspected of overprescription. Of the 545,021 (7.1%) who were followed for at least 2 years after the initial headache diagnosis, 40,082 (10.1%) had been overprescribed. Risk factors for overprescribing were male, younger age, more prescriptions of acute care drugs, and prophylaxis prescription in the first 90 days. Analysis of big data revealed the reality of medically-induced MOH. Analysis of the receipt database may reveal medical issues from macro perspectives and can screen for headache patients in need of intervention.