Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the migraine treatments implemented in Burkina Faso. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study with a prospective data collection from August to November, 2019 in Burkina Faso. The study included 653 randomly selected participants aged 16 years and over. Female gender, high socioeconomic status, coffee and alcohol consumption, high blood pressure and smoking were significantly and positively associated with migraine. The mean period from the beginning of the symptoms to the initiation of care was 25.93 months ± 42.09 with a range of 0 - 240 months (20 years). While 42 (76.36%) patients self-treated during migraine attacks, 41 (74.55%) never visited a healthcare professional for their migraine. No migraine patient had taken traditional treatment. No improvement was noted in the course of the disease in 28 (50.91%) participants. Migraine predominantly affects women in our context. Psychoactive substances such as coffee, tobacco and alcohol as well as high blood pressure also seem to be risk factors with a strong possibility of reverse causality to be elucidated by a cohort study. Migraine is a disease that responds little or no to treatment which is hardly ever substantive.

Key words: Migraine, treatment, risk factors, Sub Saharan Africa, Burkina Faso.