The six-item Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) was designed to provide a global measure of adverse headache impact and was developed to use in screening and monitoring patients with headaches in both clinical practice and clinical research.
The HIT-6 items measure the adverse impact of headache on social functioning, role functioning, vitality, cognitive functioning and psychological distress. The HIT-6 also measures the severity of headache pain. The six items were selected from 89 items (54 from an existing adverse headache impact item pool and 35 items recommended by clinicians).
The HIT-6 shows good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, construct validity and responsiveness in general headache patients.
Since its initial development and validation, the HIT-6 has been well received and widely utilized in clinical practice, and applied to clinical trials for patient screening and treatment monitoring of headaches, including migraine.
The HIT-6 was developed among headache sufferers with different headache day frequency and severity levels. Given the increasing use of the HIT-6 in clinical management of patients, as well as in clinical research, it is necessary to provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the HIT-6 in migraine patients who suffer varying headache day frequency.