OBJECTIVES: To describe the treatment patterns and healthcare attention of patients with migraine between 2018 to 2022 in Colombia.

METHODS: This study was a non-interventional, retrospective, descriptive study conducted in one Colombian Health Management Organization (HMO) from 2018 to 2022 with a follow up period of 5 years. Migraine patients were identified using the International Code Disease 10th version G43 and the confirmation of the diagnosis from a neurologist. The first recorded of migraine diagnosis was defined as the index date. Medical records, claim databases and other electronical databases from the HMO were used to determine the clinical characteristics, treatments, and healthcare services. The frequency of treatments was calculated considering the number of patients who continued in each record during the study period.

RESULTS: 89,227 patients were included in the study. The mean follow up period was 3.7 years (Standard deviation 1.2). The vast majority of patients were first seen by a general practitioner (82.6%), and only 8.9% by a neurologist.. The annual mean of outpatient in 2018 was 1.43 consultation per patient which have been decreased to 0.68 in the 2022. The most common treatment for acute event during the follow-up were non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) (range 37%-42%) in monotherapy, combinations of analgesics (range 14%-35%), and corticosteroids (range 10% -15%). Triptans was used in 4% of patients in the first medication record, reaching a maximum of 16% of patients. In preventive treatment, beta-blockers (range 24%-49%) and antiepileptics (range 29% - 41%) were the most common treatments. The frequency of use of calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonist was between 0% to 2% during the follow up.

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of migraine patients were initially managed by general practitioners with low frequency of annual visits. NSAID and corticosteroids were the first election treatments in acute events as well as beta blockers and antiepileptics in preventive treatment.