Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: Dexamethasone for reduction of migraine recurrence

Abstract

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether the administration of dexamethasone reduced the risk of recurrence of migraine headaches at 24 h. Three hundred and fifteen articles were found using the reported search including two systematic reviews and meta-analyses. A total of nine trials was included between the two meta-analyses. One trial was included in both analyses from the abstract data but had subsequently been published with further patient data. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated (table 2). It is concluded that the administration of dexamethasone reduces the risk of recurrence at 24 h in patients presenting to an emergency department with a migraine headache.