Back to List

Title:
Author:
Date:
Source:

Antihypertensive Drugs for Migraine
M. Law, et al.
Posted: November 2005  
Circulation 2005;112:2301-2306

Antihypertensive drugs from a variety of classes prevent a significant proportion of headaches, suggest findings from a new meta-analysis.

To evaluate whether blood pressure-lowering drugs affect headache, investigators reviewed 94 randomized placebo-controlled trials of thiazides, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, and angiotension II receptor antagonists.

Overall, headache was reported by one-third fewer patients receiving treatment as compared with those receiving placebo. Significant reductions in headache prevalence were noted for each of the 4 drug classes studied.

The investigators calculated an average 3.5% absolute difference in the proportion of subjects reporting headache in the treated versus control groups, translating to the prevention of headache, in approximately 1 person in 30.