Migraine

Experts in the management of migraine discuss the prevalence of individuals taking acute migraine therapy and enumerate the various classes of agents available.

It will be very interesting to understand the mechanism of medication overuse headache, along with the effects antibodies have on the condition, said Rigmor Jensen, MD, professor of neurology at The University of Copenhagen and director of the Danish Headache Center.

Compared with triptan nonresponders, patients with migraine who report a response to at least 1 triptan have a higher likelihood of responding to treatment with erenumab, according to real-world data published in The Journal of Headache and Pain.

Erenumab treatment has been associated with reductions in migraine frequency and improvements in health-related quality of life that were maintained for at least 5 years, according to the results of an open-label treatment phase of a recent study.

Data on patients with migraine who stopped erenumab treatment show that over half of patients had an early disease worsening while the remaining patients maintained their responder status during weeks 1 through 4 post treatment.

Pain is a subjective response with multiple features and components, said Frank Porreca, PhD, professor of pharmacology and anesthesiology at the University of Arizona and a member of the Department of Collaborative Research at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

The emotional, functional and physical effects of vertigo on patients with vestibular migraine were shown to be more significant compared with the experiences of patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in a recent study.

A “dose-response” relationship may exist between migraine and patent foramen ovale (PFO), according to a review published in Frontiers in Neurology.

Migraine accounts for many billions of dollars in direct and indirect health care costs, said Peter McAllister, MD, a neurologist, board certified headache specialist, and medical director of the New England Institute for Neurology and Headache.

Our most-popular articles relating to migraine in 2020 included new research on menstrual migraine and the efficacy of erenumab, a calcitonin gene-related peptide inhibitor, for migraine.

When it comes to the next steps for anti-CGRP therapies, we need to discuss the concept of synergism, said Stephen Silberstein, MD, professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University and director of the Headache Center at Jefferson Health.

In a recently published review, researchers highlighted the disease burden of migraine, advances in preventive therapies, key takeaways from the most recent migraine management consensus statement, and advocated for increased pharmacist intervention in migraine medication management.

The analysis, published in Cephalalgia, found that more than 50% of patients exhibited reversion from chronic migraine to episodic migraine after week 12 of the double-blind treatment phase.

The pandemic's effects on migraine need to be evaluated for the whole of 2020 and data from one specific time are not enough, said Faraidoon Haghdoost, MD, a general practitioner and PhD student at The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia.

The presence of migraine is a significant risk factor for the development of subsequent peripheral artery occlusive disease, according to results of a retrospective cohort study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Studies show giving preventive medication while taking away offending drugs is superior to continuing offending medication and adding preventive drugs in patients with medication overuse headache, said Rigmor Jensen, MD, professor of neurology at The University of Copenhagen and director of the Danish Headache Center.

Researchers assessed 3 risk factors for migraine in children and adolescents: stress, sleep poverty, and alimentation.

Among children and adolescents suffering from migraine, results from a prospective study show being overweight is associated with a higher frequency of migraine attacks and separation anxiety symptoms.

If green light therapy were proven to be effective for migraine, it would be hugely important, said Frank Porreca, PhD, professor of pharmacology and anesthesiology at the University of Arizona and a member of the Department of Collaborative Research at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

While migraine was more manifest in some patients during the pandemic, others were able to adopt healthier habits, said Peter McAllister, MD, a neurologist, board certified headache specialist, and medical director of the New England Institute for Neurology and Headache.

The genetic determinants of sleep and migraine partly overlap, suggesting sleep disturbances may causally influence migraine etiology and could be targets for migraine treatment, according to results of a Mendelian randomization study.

If you only experience migraine with your period for a few days, it would be difficult to recommend taking a drug all the time, said Stephen Silberstein, MD, professor of neurology at Thomas Jefferson University and director of the Headache Center at Jefferson Health.

Patients with chronic migraine who received a combination therapy of erenumab and onabotulinumtoxinA exhibited significant reductions in monthly headache days and monthly migraine days.

The CGRP story is really based on reverse translation and other observations in humans will be pursued along that same model, said Frank Porreca, PhD, professor of pharmacology and anesthesiology at the University of Arizona and a member of the Department of Collaborative Research at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

Variability in prevalence of vestibular migraine, depending on ethnicity and geographic location suggests, a combined genetic and environmental contribution to VM, according to results of a systematic review.

There can be a myriad of reasons for the patterns observed in our study on alteration of migraine frequency and triggers during the pandemic, said Faraidoon Haghdoost, MD, a general practitioner and PhD student at The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers highlighted structural and functional brain differences among those who suffer menstrual-related migraine (MRM) and pure menstrual migraine (PMM).

Increased time spent in front of computer screens, less time spent sleeping, and less access to gyms have led my patients to have a lot more migraines, said Peter McAllister, MD, a neurologist, board certified headache specialist, and medical director of the New England Institute for Neurology and Headache.

Data from a 5-year open-label treatment period on the safety profile of erenumab (Aimovig) showed the treatment helped patients with episodic migraine achieve a sustained reduction in the number of monthly migraine days and the number of days in which therapies were needed for acute migraines.