Low-dose gabapentin in treatment of high-altitude headache

Abstract

Headache is the most prevalent symptom of acute mountain sickness. We conducted a pilot clinical trial at an altitude of 3500 m to evaluate the efficacy of gabapentin in treatment of high-altitude headache (HAH). Twenty-four adult HAH patients (10 female, 14 male; age 18-50 years) were randomly assigned to receive either 300 mg of gabapentin capsule or identical placebo. After 1 h the presence of HAH and need to receive supplementary analgesic were assessed. The duration of the HAH-free phase after taking additional analgesic was also registered. Four patients in the gabapentin group asked for additional analgesics, whereas nine placebo recipients did not find primary medication satisfactory after the first hour of treatment (P = 0.04). The mean HAH-free period was 17.10 h in the gabapentin group, which was significantly higher than in the placebo group with a mean of 10.08 h (P = 0.02). This preliminary observation indicates that gabapentin is effective in treatment and alleviation of HAH.