ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2020
Perceptions, experiences, and understandings of cluster headache among GPs and neurologists: a qualitative study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cluster headache diagnostic delay and its predictors: a systematic review with a meta-analysis.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Pooled it
- Cluster Headache Management: Evaluating Diagnostic and Treatment Approaches Among Family and Emergency Medicine Physicians.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Cluster headache: an update on clinical features, epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Problem of headache: A cross-sectional study.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2023Article
- Testing the Decision Support Tool for Responsible Pain Management for Headache and Facial Pain Diagnosis with Opioid-Risk-Stratified Treatment.SN comprehensive clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Challenges and complexities in designing cluster headache prevention clinical trials: A narrative review.Headache · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCluster headache is a severe primary headache with a similar prevalence to that of multiple sclerosis. Cluster headache is characterised by unilateral trigeminal distribution of pain, ipsilateral cranial autonomic features, and a tendency to circadian and circannual periodicity.
aimTo explore the perceptions, experiences, and understandings of cluster headache among GPs and neurologists. DESIGN AND
settingQualitative interview study in primary care surgeries and neurology departments in the north of England.
methodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with GPs and neurologists, recorded, and transcribed. A thematic analysis was applied to the dataset.
resultsSixteen clinicians participated in this study: eight GPs and eight neurologists. Four main themes were identified following thematic analysis: challenges with the cluster headache diagnosis; impact of cluster headache; challenges with treatment; and appropriateness of referrals to secondary care. Clinicians recognised the delays in the diagnosis of cluster headache, misdiagnosis, and mismanagement, and were aware of the potential impact cluster headache can have on patients' mental health and ability to remain in employment. Findings highlighted tensions between primary and secondary care around the cost of medication and the remit of prescribing treatment regimens. Patients' anxiety, their need for reassurance, and their insistence about seeing a specialist are some of the reasons for referrals.
conclusionClinicians acknowledged delays in diagnosis, misdiagnosis, and mismanagement of cluster headache. The responsibility of prescribing causes ongoing tensions between primary and secondary care. Clear referral and management pathways for primary headaches are required to improve patient outcomes and healthcare costs.
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