Randomised trial, 2011
Is frovatriptan as good as zolmitriptan for treating migraines tied to your period?
Both drugs provide similar quick pain relief within 2 hours, but frovatriptan had fewer migraines returning within 24 hours, providing better sustained relief.
What they did
76 regularly menstruating women in Italy were randomly given either frovatriptan 2.5 mg or zolmitriptan 2.5 mg to treat period-related migraines. Each woman treated up to 3 migraine episodes with one drug, then switched to the other drug. A total of 73 migraine attacks were treated with frovatriptan and 65 with zolmitriptan.
What they found
Pain relief at 2 hours was 52% for frovatriptan and 53% for zolmitriptan, with no significant difference. Pain-free rates at 2 hours were 22% and 26% respectively. At 24 hours, frovatriptan patients had 74% pain-free and 83% pain relief versus 69% pain-free and 82% pain relief for zolmitriptan. Migraine recurrence at 24 hours was significantly lower with frovatriptan at 15% versus 22% with zolmitriptan.
What it means for you
Both drugs work similarly for quick pain relief, but frovatriptan may prevent period migraines from returning as often. The study involved a reasonable number of women but is from Italy only, so results might vary in other populations.
76
Women in study
52% vs 53%
Pain relief at 2 hours
15% vs 22%
Migraine recurrence at 24 hours
About the study
- Original title
- Efficacy of frovatriptan in the acute treatment of menstrually related migraine: analysis of a double-blind, randomized, multicenter, Italian, comparative study versus zolmitriptan
- Authors
- Allais G, Tullo V, Benedetto C et al.
- Journal
- Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
- Year
- 2011
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- Participants
- 76
- What was tested
- Frovatriptan 2.5 mg versus zolmitriptan 2.5 mg
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s10072-011-0547-y
Topics
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