Unmet medical needs are of concern to patients who experience migraine treated with triptans and there may be an undertreatment with preventive therapies whose benefit is insufficient, a new study found. The study cohort consisted of participants with ≥4 triptan dose units per month, selected from the general population. Patients were stratified into: possible Low-Frequency Episodic Migraine (pLF-EM: 4-9 triptan dose units per month), possible High-Frequency Episodic Migraine (pHF-EM: 10-14 triptan dose units per month), and possible Chronic Migraine (pCM: 14 triptan dose units per month). Researchers found:
- Of 10,270,683 adults, 8 per 1000 were triptan users and of these, 38.2% were migraineurs with unmet medical needs.
- 72.3% of patients were affected by pLF-EM, 17.4% by pHF-EM, and 10.3% by pCM.
- 19.1% of patients used oral preventive drugs.
- Triptan use reduction was found in 22.3% of patients, decreasing with the intensification of need levels.
Piccinni C, Cevoli S, Martini N. A real-world study on unmet medical needs in triptan-treated migraine: prevalence, preventive therapies and triptan use modification from a large Italian population along two years. [Published online ahead of print June 27, 2019]. J Headache Pain. doi: 10.1186/s10194-019-1027-7.