Max
12-31-2002, 05:17 PM
Blood Pressure Drug Helps Prevent Migraine
2 hours, 45 minutes ago Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Steven Reinberg
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A drug used to treat high blood pressure can help prevent migraines in some patients, a new study shows.
The medication, called candesartan, belongs to a family of drugs called angiotensin II receptor blockers. Past studies have suggested that these drugs may help prevent headaches, but their direct effect on migraine has not been investigated.
There are relatively few drugs available that are effective for preventing migraines and also well-tolerated, note Dr. Erling Tronvik of St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, and colleagues. To investigate whether candesartan might help prevent migraine, the researchers tested the drug in 60 patients who reported having two to six migraine attacks each month.
Patients took a placebo for four weeks, and then were randomly assigned to take either candesartan or a placebo for another 12 weeks. After another four weeks on placebo, the groups were switched.
During the trial, the researchers recorded headache frequency, cumulative headache hours, the severity of headaches, levels of disability, the amount of drugs patients took to treat migraine, acceptability of treatment, days of sick leave and quality of life.
"With candesartan the number of headache days was reduced by 26%, number of migraine hours by 36%, days of sick leave by 64%," Tronvik told Reuters Health.
The average number of days with headache was 13.6 per 12-week period when patients were on candesartan, compared to 18.5 when they took placebo.
Headaches were also less severe in patients on candesartan, and patients were less disabled by their headaches when they took the drug. Patients on the drug also took an average of 1.4 days of sick leave, compared to about 4 days for those on placebo.
Quality of life was not significantly different between placebo and candesartan, the researchers note.
"The main advantage with candesartan is the safety profile," Tronvik said. Clinical studies have demonstrated that the adverse effect profile of this drug is similar to that of placebo and there were no dose-dependent adverse effects, he added.
Dosage of the drug did not need to be increased, and patients needed just one pill daily, Tronvik said. "No significant drug interactions have been identified," he added.
"Candesartan cilexetil does not yet have an indication for use in migraineurs and it is therefore difficult to give a general recommendation. But this is a type of drug most physicians are familiar with, and we hope they will read our paper and make up their own opinion whether to try it on this group of patients," he said.
AstraZeneca, the maker of candesartan, provided financial support for the study.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association (news - web sites) 2003;289:65-69.
2 hours, 45 minutes ago Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Steven Reinberg
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A drug used to treat high blood pressure can help prevent migraines in some patients, a new study shows.
The medication, called candesartan, belongs to a family of drugs called angiotensin II receptor blockers. Past studies have suggested that these drugs may help prevent headaches, but their direct effect on migraine has not been investigated.
There are relatively few drugs available that are effective for preventing migraines and also well-tolerated, note Dr. Erling Tronvik of St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, and colleagues. To investigate whether candesartan might help prevent migraine, the researchers tested the drug in 60 patients who reported having two to six migraine attacks each month.
Patients took a placebo for four weeks, and then were randomly assigned to take either candesartan or a placebo for another 12 weeks. After another four weeks on placebo, the groups were switched.
During the trial, the researchers recorded headache frequency, cumulative headache hours, the severity of headaches, levels of disability, the amount of drugs patients took to treat migraine, acceptability of treatment, days of sick leave and quality of life.
"With candesartan the number of headache days was reduced by 26%, number of migraine hours by 36%, days of sick leave by 64%," Tronvik told Reuters Health.
The average number of days with headache was 13.6 per 12-week period when patients were on candesartan, compared to 18.5 when they took placebo.
Headaches were also less severe in patients on candesartan, and patients were less disabled by their headaches when they took the drug. Patients on the drug also took an average of 1.4 days of sick leave, compared to about 4 days for those on placebo.
Quality of life was not significantly different between placebo and candesartan, the researchers note.
"The main advantage with candesartan is the safety profile," Tronvik said. Clinical studies have demonstrated that the adverse effect profile of this drug is similar to that of placebo and there were no dose-dependent adverse effects, he added.
Dosage of the drug did not need to be increased, and patients needed just one pill daily, Tronvik said. "No significant drug interactions have been identified," he added.
"Candesartan cilexetil does not yet have an indication for use in migraineurs and it is therefore difficult to give a general recommendation. But this is a type of drug most physicians are familiar with, and we hope they will read our paper and make up their own opinion whether to try it on this group of patients," he said.
AstraZeneca, the maker of candesartan, provided financial support for the study.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association (news - web sites) 2003;289:65-69.