Medication overuse headache

Altered Intra-Network Functional Connectivity Predicts the 6-Month Prognosis in Patients With Medication Overuse Headache: A Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND

Previous studies suggested that changes in functional connectivity (FC) within intrinsic resting-state networks (RSNs) might be associated with treatment responses during withdrawal in patients experiencing medication overuse headache (MOH). This study examined alterations in intra- and internetwork FC in intrinsic RSNs among MOH patients and explored the relationship between neuroimage changes and six-month prognoses.

METHODS

This case-control study enrolled healthy controls and MOH patients. Six months after implementing a withdrawal and preventive strategy, patients who had successfully discontinued overusing acute medications and reduced headache days by at least 50% from baseline were classified as having 'good outcome' and those not reaching this outcome were classified as having a 'poor outcome'. Changes in intra- and inter-network FC in intrinsic RSNs across groups at baseline were evaluated. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify independent alterations associated with good outcomes.

RESULTS

In the MOH group, 16 patients had poor outcomes and 17 patients had good outcomes. Compared to 24 healthy controls, all patients showed significantly increased FC in the left middle temporal gyrus of the left frontoparietal network (FPN). Furthermore, those with good outcomes had significantly decreased FC in the left orbital inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the left FPN compared to both poor outcome patients and healthy controls. Altered FC in the left orbital IFG of the left FPN was significantly associated with good outcomes and positively correlated with baseline headache intensity.

CONCLUSIONS

The altered FC in the left orbital IFG of the left FPN may be associated with MOH treatment prognosis.

SIGNIFICANCE

The present study provides evidence of the association between alterations of intra-network functional connectivity in intrinsic resting-state networks and six-month prognoses in patients with medication overuse headache. Our results imply potential neuroimaging biomarkers associated with the prognosis of medication overuse headache.

Reduction of pain and functional disability over time in patients treated with zavegepant: a post-hoc analysis of the BHV3500-301 phase 3 randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Migraine is a disabling disorder that impacts 40 million people in the US. Zavegepant is the first calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist nasal-spray approved for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults. This study aimed to evaluate the proportion of patients in various pain and functional disability states over 48-h, for patients treated with zavegepant 10 mg nasal-spray versus placebo.

METHODS

This post-hoc analysis included adult patients with > 1-year history of migraine from BHV3500-301 (NCT04571060): a phase 3 double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, single-attack study. Over 48-h, pain severity and functional disability were captured at various timepoints (pre- and post-dosing). The proportion of patients at each pain severity or functional disability state and the time spent in each category was calculated. These were analyzed for patients with complete timepoint data available and using missing not at random (MNAR) imputation for missing timepoints. Predictors of functional disability were assessed using a mixed-effects logistic regression model.

RESULTS

There were 1,269 patients included in the MNAR imputation analysis, and between 630-641 in the complete-case analysis. As early as 15-min post-dose, a larger proportion of zavegepant patients achieved no/mild pain compared to placebo, despite balanced migraine severity pre-dose. Furthermore, zavegepant patients spent significantly more time (over 2.5-h) in pain freedom compared to placebo. Similarly, a higher proportion of patients with normal function was observed with zavegepant vs placebo, as early as 30-min post-dose. Over 48-h, patients treated with zavegepant spent an average of ~ 3-h longer with normal functioning compared to placebo. Results were similar when analyzing both analytic groups. In a regression model, treatment with zavegepant, lower pain severity, fewer baseline monthly migraine days, and absence of photophobia, phonophobia, and nausea were associated with better functioning (p < 0.05) over 48-h.

CONCLUSION

This post-hoc analysis demonstrates the benefit of zavegepant nasal spray over placebo on two patient-centric endpoints: time spent with pain freedom and normal functioning over 48-h post-dose. These data support the use of zavegepant for providing rapid and sustained freedom from migraine pain and freedom from migraine related disability, particularly for those who would benefit from the nasal CGRP formulation.

Acupuncture for tension-type headache: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background

Tension-type headache (TTH) is the most common neurologic disease worldwide. Acupuncture is commonly applied to treat TTH, but evidence of acupuncture for TTH is contradictory based on previous meta-analyses. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to update the evidence of acupuncture for TTH and aimed to provide a valuable reference for clinical application.

Methods

We searched 9 electronic databases from their inceptions to July 1, 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for TTH. We also manually searched reference lists and relevant websites, and the experts in this field were consulted for possible eligible studies. Two independent reviewers conducted literature screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. The revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (ROB 2) was used to assess the risk of bias of included studies. Subgroup analyses were carried out based on frequency of acupuncture, total sessions, treatment duration, needle retention, types of acupuncture and categories of medication. Data synthesis was performed using Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 16. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Approach (GRADE) was used to evaluate the certainty of evidence of each outcome. Meanwhile, the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) was used to assess the reporting quality of interventions in clinical trials of acupuncture.

Results

30 RCTs involving 2,742 participants were included. According to ROB 2, 4 studies were considered as low risk, and the rest studies were some concerns. After treatment, compared with sham acupuncture, acupuncture had greater effect in improvement of responder rate [3 RCTs, RR = 1.30, 95%CI (1.13, 1.50), I2 = 2%, moderate certainty] and headache frequency [5 RCTs, SMD = -0.85, 95%CI (-1.58, -0.12), I2 = 94%, very low certainty]. In contrast to medication, acupuncture was more effective to reduce pain intensity [9 RCTs, SMD = -0.62, 95%CI (-0.86, -0.38), I2 = 63%, low certainty]. Adverse events were evaluated in 16 trials, and no serious event associated with acupuncture occurred.

Conclusions

Acupuncture may be an effective and safe treatment for TTH patients. Due to low or very low certainty of evidence and high heterogeneity, more rigorous RCTs are needed to verify the effect and safety of acupuncture in the management of TTH.

Relation of hypertension with episodic primary headaches and chronic primary headaches in population of Rafsanjan cohort study

Headache has a variety of types, such as episodic primary headaches (EPH) and chronic primary headache (CPH) in its primary form. There is a positive correlation between these two types of headaches and hypertension (HTN), but in some works this correlation has been reported negatively. Therefore, we planned to study HTN-CPH as well as HTN-EPH correlation in our population. A sample of Rafsanjan population (10,000 individuals) entered the cohort study, as one of the Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in Iran (PERSIAN). We compared the frequency of HTN categories in CPH and EPH cases with a normal population. Out of 9933 participants (46.6% males and 53.4% females) about 29% had EPH and 7.5% had CPH. HTN was found in 24.27% of EPH cases and 31.98% of CPH cases. HTN was also found to be associated with EPH and CPH in the crude model. Two Categories of HTN (Long controlled and uncontrolled) were not associated with EPH. On the other hand, CPH showed associations with all of the HTN categories. After included all variables and confounders, EPH and CPH had association with HTN without any considerable changes. There is strong HTN-EPH as well as HTN-CPH correlations in the studied population.