A new study that looked at several different migraine treatments finds that the first-line drugs commonly prescribed to prevent the onset of migraines may not be the best choice after all. Did.
Of the options that turned out to be better options, many of the cheaper options were just as effective as the more expensive medications.
There are many preventive measures, but currently available, it is difficult to find one that suits each person. To take a closer look at their relative effectiveness, the research team looked at data from Norway’s national prescription database, which includes a total of 104,072 participants.
preventive treatment (to reduce the number and severity of migraines) depends on how long people have migraines and how much they use alongside acute treatments (designed to help after a migraine has started). based on how often it was used.
“If starting a prophylactic medication made little difference in discontinuation of acute migraine medications, or if people stopped taking the prophylactic medication too quickly, we interpreted the prophylactic medication to have little effect.” To tell Malte Helen Björk, a neurologist at the University of Bergen in Norway, says:
“We interpreted that prophylactic drugs have a positive effect if they are used continuously over a long period of time and the consumption of acute drugs is reduced.”
Researchers found that all preventive treatments were somewhat effective in reducing migraine frequency, duration, and intensity. CGRP inhibitor, Amitriptylineand Simvastatin appeared to have the greatest positive effect.
All three drugs performed well beta blocker, a drug commonly used to prevent migraines. CGRP inhibitors target the calcitonin gene-related peptide, which is associated with inflammation in the brain, and, unlike the other two drugs, were developed specifically to fight migraines.
However, CGRP inhibitors are significantly more expensive than the other two options, making this an important consideration in the ongoing effort to get more migraine sufferers on preventive medications. .
A migraine is more than just a severe headache; it is often accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. These can be truly debilitating, tend to be more common in women, and are thought to affect: almost 1 billion People all over the world.
This is a big problem, but only 3 to 13 percent of people experience migraines take all kinds of drugs Try to reduce them in some way. Researchers hope a comprehensive review will help change these numbers.
“Our analysis shows that some established, inexpensive drugs have therapeutic efficacy similar to more expensive drugs.” To tell Björk.
This study European Journal of Neurology.
