Predictive Score for Non-traumatic Secondary Headache After an Emergency Call

Headache Clinical Trial

— CEPHAREG  

Official title:

Predictive Score for Non-traumatic Secondary Headache After an Emergency Call

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04617808
• Other study ID #: CHRO-2019-02
• Status: Completed
• Start date: October 21, 2020
• Est. completion date: May 31, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: March 2022
• Source: Centre Hospitalier Régional d'Orléans
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

The study objective was to identify predictive criteria of severe non-traumatic secondary headache among the information gathered during telephone interview conducted by the on-call regulating physician at the Centre15.

Description:

Headache accounted for 1% of outpatient consultations, 2% of hospital emergency department visits and, at the French national level, 1% of complaints motivating calls to the prehospital emergency medical service units (The French, physician-led Emergency Calls Centers , called either "Center 15" or Service d'Aide Médicale d'Urgence [SAMU]). In 2009, the French "SAMU-Urgences de France" society proposed a classification and diagnostic tool for evaluating the headache patient, which is yet to be validated by a clinical study. Most patients with headache spontaneously consulted the emergency department (ED) and only 4 to 5% of patients entered ED through ambulance, fire and rescue department, medicalized ambulance (SMUR), or police. Patients attending emergency service for unusual sudden headache arriving by ambulance had a higher frequency of subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Headache studies have mainly been conducted in the ED. The Ottawa rule published by Perry et al. in 2013 proposed criteria for conducting explorations for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in patients over 15 years of age with severe, non-traumatic headache, having reached maximum intensity within one hour.

Unlike the primary headaches, secondary headaches are associated with underlying causes. Among the severe secondary headaches (SSH) (4 to 5% of headaches), non-traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage was not diagnosed in 5.4% to 12% of cases in ED resulting in increase in mortality from 5 to 14%.

In 2018, French guidelines for the emergency management of headache recognized criteria likely to be at risk of Severe Secondary Headache, requiring explorations in emergencies for sudden headaches or thunderclaps headaches (i.e. reaching maximum intensity in less than a minute), recent headaches or progressive worsening (<7 days) and unusual, association with fever (apart from an obvious cause), association with signs of neurological impairment, suspicion of carbon monoxide poisoning, immunosuppression (neoplasia, HIV). Any unusual headache in a patient with recurrent paroxysmal or chronic headache should be considered secondary until proven otherwise. Subarachnoid hemorrhages were present in 11% of patients with sudden, intense and unusual headache.

In the French department of Loiret, patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage required a transfer out of the department to the nearest regional referral teaching hospital, by lack of adequate equipment and expertise for interventional neurology. Early diagnosis was therefore critical. In fact, an untreated cerebral aneurysm rupture increased bleeding recurrence by 3-4% in the first 24 hours.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 715
• Est. completion date: May 31, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: May 31, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Telephone call from center 15 for the headache pattern

• Age = 18

• Non-opposition expressed by the patient

• Or non-opposition delayed (adults with cognitive disorders, protected adults, clinical situations judged to be serious by the Medical Regulation Assistant, physician regulator, incoming call flow, call by close or trusted person)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Head trauma < 48 hours

• Moribund patient

• Non-affiliation to a social security scheme

• Opposition to the continuation of the study expressed orally by the patient or by return mail within 30 days

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emergencies
• Headache

Intervention

Other:
• Questionnaire
The regulatory scheme applied to all investigative centers is as follows: Call from Center 15 by a major patient for secondary headache no traumatic. (i.e. not having been the victim of a head trauma during the 48 hours preceding the call) Detection of the pattern of "non-traumatic headache", by the regulatory assistant medical with registration of the word "cephareg" in the medical regulation software in order to alert the regulator about the possible inclusion of the patient If possible, patient information on the collection of their data for research and possibility of opposing Filling of a medical questionnaire by the regulating doctor Weekly collection of medical questionnaires by investigating doctors

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
France	Regional Hospital center of Orleans	Orléans
France	CHRU de Tours	Tours

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Centre Hospitalier Régional d'Orléans

Country where clinical trial is conducted

France, 

References & Publications (7)

Burch RC, Loder S, Loder E, Smitherman TA. The prevalence and burden of migraine and severe headache in the United States: updated statistics from government health surveillance studies. Headache. 2015 Jan;55(1):21-34. doi: 10.1111/head.12482. Review. Erratum in: Headache. 2015 Feb;55(2):356. — View Citation

Chey WY, Kusakcioglu O, Dinoso V, Lorber SH. Gastric secretion in patients with chronic pancreatitis and in chronic alcoholics. Arch Intern Med. 1968 Nov;122(5):399-403. — View Citation

Goldstein JN, Camargo CA Jr, Pelletier AJ, Edlow JA. Headache in United States emergency departments: demographics, work-up and frequency of pathological diagnoses. Cephalalgia. 2006 Jun;26(6):684-90. — View Citation

Pari E, Rinaldi F, Gipponi S, Venturelli E, Liberini P, Rao R, Padovani A. Management of headache disorders in the Emergency Department setting. Neurol Sci. 2015 Jul;36(7):1153-60. doi: 10.1007/s10072-015-2148-7. Epub 2015 Mar 10. Erratum in: Neurol Sci. 2015 Jul;36(7):1161. — View Citation

Perry JJ, Sivilotti MLA, Sutherland J, Hohl CM, Émond M, Calder LA, Vaillancourt C, Thirganasambandamoorthy V, Lesiuk H, Wells GA, Stiell IG. Validation of the Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule in patients with acute headache. CMAJ. 2017 Nov 13;189(45):E1379-E1385. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.170072. Erratum in: CMAJ. 2018 Feb 12;190(6):E173. — View Citation

Perry JJ, Stiell IG, Sivilotti ML, Bullard MJ, Hohl CM, Sutherland J, Émond M, Worster A, Lee JS, Mackey D, Pauls M, Lesiuk H, Symington C, Wells GA. Clinical decision rules to rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage for acute headache. JAMA. 2013 Sep 25;310(12):1248-55. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.278018. — View Citation

Valade D. The Emergency Headache Center at the Lariboisière Hospital: 7 years with more than 70,000 patients. Intern Emerg Med. 2008 Oct;3 Suppl 1:S3-7. doi: 10.1007/s11739-008-0191-6. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Proportion of patients with diagnosis of non-traumatic secondary headache	Proportion of patients with diagnosis of non-traumatic secondary headache attended by the French emergency services operating	Day 21
Secondary	Proportion of patients requiring an admission to Intensive Care Unit	Proportion of patients requiring an admission to the Intensive Care Unit between triage in the emergency department (Day 0) and Day 2	Day 2
Secondary	Number of patients with early mortality	Number of patients who died in hospital at day 7	Day 7