Patricia Pozo Rosich
Neurologist, expert in migraine, head of section of the Neurology Service of the Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona
I think it is an interesting study conceptually, although it should be borne in mind that the study:
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Is epidemiological and retrospective
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did not adequately ask whether the diagnosis was migraine, and not headache.
But, most importantly, when the study was conducted (1999-2004), preventive treatment was scarce (at the population level) and proton pump inhibitors (such as omeprazole) were probably used due to the excessive use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other treatments used on [head] pain crises.
Since they couldn’t ask the frequency of headaches during the study, we cannot infer whether this is cause or consequence; but it is likely that those taking more antacids also had more headaches because they were actually taking more NSAIDs.