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Defining migraine days

A correct and standardized definition of a migraine day is important for clinical and research purposes. In our new article published in the scientific journal Cephalalgia, we compared different definitions of a migraine day using data from headache E-diaries of 1494 migraine patients.

Based on the results, we recommend defining a migraine day as a day on which at least one of the following three criteria is met:

  1. headache lasting at least 30 minutes with at least two of the four migraine characteristics;
  2. a (visual) aura lasting 5-60 minutes;
  3. or a day on which acute migraine-specific medication is used regardless of its effect.

The full publication can be read in Cephalalgia.