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Benign headache sometimes recurs when acute treatment wears off in patients discharged from the emergency department. Theorizing that inflammation plays a key role in headache recurrence, researchers at two U.S. military hospitals assessed whether the addition of 10 mg of intravenous dexamethasone to ED headache treatment prevents recurrence 48 to 72 hours after discharge. A convenience sample of 57 adult patients deemed to have headache of benign origin was enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients were excluded if they were pregnant or had active peptic ulcer disease, systemic fungal infection, or diabetes type 1.
Two patients were lost to follow-up, leaving 31 patients in the dexamethasone group and 24 in …