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. 2021 Apr 22;21(1):174.
doi: 10.1186/s12883-021-02195-8.

Effectiveness of medication in cluster headache

Johannes Drescher  1   2 , Andreas Khouri  1 , Tina Katharina Amann  1 , Charly Gaul  3 , Peter Kropp  2 , Yannic Siebenhaar  1 , Jörg Scheidt  4
Affiliations

Effectiveness of medication in cluster headache

Johannes Drescher et al. BMC Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: The aim of this work is to analyze the reports on cluster headache attacks collected online in the citizen science project CLUE with respect to the effectiveness of drugs taken during the attacks. The collection of data within the framework of citizen science projects opens up the possibility of investigating the effectiveness of acute medication on the basis of a large number of individual attacks instead of a simple survey of patients.

Methods: Data from 8369 cluster headache attacks, containing information about acute medication taken and the assessment of its effect, were collected from 133 participants using an online platform and a smartphone app. Chi-square tests were used to investigate whether the effect of the three recommended acute drugs differs when distinguishing between participants with chronic or episodic cluster headache. Furthermore, it was investigated whether there are differences between smokers and non-smokers in the assessment of the effect of the acute medication.

Results: Our participants rated the effectiveness of sumatriptan 6 mg s.c. as significantly better than oxygen and zolmitriptan nasal spray. Oxygen is considered to be significantly better in episodic versus chronic cluster headache, and sumatriptan is considered to be significantly better in chronic versus episodic cluster headache. Smokers rate the effect of oxygen as significantly better than non-smokers.

Conclusions: Despite some methodological limitations, web-based data collection is able to support findings from clinical trials in a real world setting about effectiveness of acute cluster headache treatment in several situations.

Keywords: Acute medication; Citizen science; Cluster headache; Effectiveness.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Gaul has received honoraria for consulting and lectures within the past 3 years from Allergan Pharma, Lilly Germany, Novartis Pharma, Hormosan Pharma, Grünenthal, Sanofi-Aventis and TEVA. He does not hold any stocks of pharmaceutical companies. All other authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of the medications for attacks with only one medication reported
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Effectiveness of the three medications under investigation
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Effectiveness of the three medications under investigation by cluster headache type
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Effectiveness of the three medications under investigation by smoker and non-smoker
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Effectiveness of combinations of the three medications under investigation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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