Low dose of pizotifen in migraine prevention : a comparison with topiramate

Abstract EN

Background and objective : pizotifen is an alternative option for prophylactic treatment of migraine headache.

this study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of pizotifen with topiramate ; one of the most-widely used drugs in migraine prevention.

methods : this was a single blind, randomized, parallelgroup study.

after a 4-week baseline evaluation, patients with episodic migraine were randomly assigned to get either to piramate or pizotifen for a period of 12 weeks.

patients were asked to fill a headache diary through the study.

headache characteristics and the possible side effects were evaluated throughout and at the end of trial.

results: sixty patients aged 20 to 49 were recruited to the study.

with both drugs, the frequency, intensity and duration of headaches were significantly reduced (p < 0.05).

except for headache duration, pizotifen was significantly superior to topiramate in the headache parameters assessed.

total reported side effects were initially higher inpatients who received pizotifen (37 vs.

22 ; p= 0.038); however, persistent side effects were lower for pizotifen (6 vs.

10; P= 0.22).Conclusions : The results of this study suggest that pizotifen is a safe and effective drug in migraine prevention.