Real-World Comparison of Acute Migraine Medications

Numerous medications have shown efficacy for acute treatment of migraine. However, studies directly comparing these medications remain sparse, were small, and measured only single-attack efficacy. In this study, researchers leveraged real-world health data from 278,006 patients via a smartphone headache diary application, analyzing 3,119,517 migraine attacks to produce a comprehensive direct comparison of 25 of the most commonly used acute migraine medications across seven pharmacologic classes. Medications included acetaminophen (paracetamol), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), combined acetaminophen/acetylsalicylic acid/caffeine, antiemetics, opioids, ergots, and triptans. Among 34% of patients with available data, 90.7% were …