Placebo as good as drugs for kids' migraines

By Genevra Pittman ReutersA drug-free placebo pill prevents migraines in kids and teens just as well as most headache medicines, according to a new review of past evidence.

Researchers found only two drugs known to help migraine-plagued adults reduced the frequency of kids' headaches better than a placebo. And even in those cases, the effect was small - a difference of less than one headache per month compared to the dummy pills.

"Parents should be aware that our medication choices aren't as good as they should be," said Dr. Jennifer Bickel, a neurologist and headache specialist at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Missouri.

Bickel, who wasn't involved in the new research, said no drugs have been rigorously tested and approved for preventing migraines in kids, so doctors have to rely on headache drugs made for adults.

Those medicines, she added, are "not a miracle cure."

For cases when medication may not be enough, Bickel told Reuters Health, parents may want to look into relaxation techniques - such as meditation - for kids with chronic headaches.

According to data from the Cleveland Clinic, about 2 percent of young children and 7 to 10 percent of older kids and teenagers up to age 15 get migraines.

In their review, Dr. Jeffrey Jackson from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and his colleagues looked at 21 trials comparing headache drugs to each other or to placebos. They found only topiramate (marketed as Topamax) and trazodone (Oleptro and Desyrel) significantly reduced the frequency of headaches in kids and teens who got regular migraines.

Other adult headache prevention medicines, including flunarizine, propranolol and valproate, were of no help.

"All the drugs in our analysis have been found effective in adults with migraine headaches, but few were beneficial among children," Jackson's team wrote.

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Placebo as good as drugs for kids' migraines