[Tolfenamic acid versus paracetamol in migraine attacks. A double-blind study in general practice]

Abstract

To compare the effect of tolfenamic acid and paracetamol in acute migraine, 149 patients participated in a double-blind controlled, multipractice study. 116 patients completed both treatments. The patients were asked to evaluate the two drugs in terms of the following parametres: 1) intensity of headache after three hours: as usual or less, 2) necessity of further medicine after three hours, 3) assessment of test medicine regarding the effect on strength, duration, and other inconveniences connected with the headache, 4) possible side effect connected with test medicine, and how these were experienced. After both forms of treatment, the patients were asked to give an overall judgement of the medicine, which had the best effect. No statistically significant difference was observed between the effect of 400 mg tolfenamic acid and 1 g paracetamol as to the five test parametres when using parametric or non-parametric statistics with a significance level of 5%. However, tolfenamic acid was numerically better than paracetamol with regard to headache after three hours, necessity of further medicine, judgement of attacks, and preference.