prophylaxis of childhood migraine: topiramate versus propranolol

how to cite this article: tonekaboni sh, ghazavi a, fayyazi a, khajeh a, taghdiri mm, abdollah gorji f, azargashb e. prophylaxis of childhood migraine: topiramate versus propranolol. iran j child neurol. 2013 winter; 7 (1):9-14.   objective headache is a common disabling neurological disorder and migraine comprises more than half the causes of recurrent headaches in children. despite extended prevalence of this type of headache there is lack of evidence about best drug treatment for migraine. so we aimed to compare the therapeutic effects of these drugs on childhood migraine. material s & methods in the current study, a randomized clinical trial consisting of 78 patients according to 2004 international headache association criteria were randomly assigned to two groups that matched by age and sex. one of these two groups was treated with topiramate, while the other was given propranolol. after one and four months, the efficiency of these treatments was measured in terms of frequency, severity and duration of migraine attacks. results results obtained from the data collected showed that of these 78 studied patients, 38 patients received topiramate treatment (group a) and the rest (40 patients; group b) was treated with propranolol. the average age of group a was 8.5± 2.9 years and that of group b was 8.3 ± 2.8 years. no significant difference was observed between these two groups in terms of reduction in frequency, severity and duration of migraine attacks. conclusion results showed that both treatments had the same efficiency in healing migraine headaches and there was no significant difference between their treating results. however, further studies are needed to examine medical effects of these two medicines.   refe r ences abu-arefeh  i,  russell  g.  prevalence  of  headache  and migraine in schoolchildren. bmj 1994 sep 24; 309 (6957): 765-9. lipton rb, silberstein sd, stewart wf. an update on the epidemiology of migraine. headache 1994 jun; 34 (6):319-28. stewart wf, linet ms, celentano dd, van natta m, ziegler d. age- and sex-specific incidence rates of migraine with and without aura. am j epidemiol 1991 nov; 134 (10): 1111-20. marcos j. cruz, ignacio valencia, agustı´n legido, et al, efficacy and tolerability of topiramate in pediatric migraine. pediatr neurol 2009; 41: 167-170. ashrafi  mr,  shabanian  r,  zamani  gr,  mahfelati  f. sodium valproat versus propranolol in pediatric migraine prophylaxis. eur j pediatr neurol 2005; 9 (5): 333-8. hershey ad, winner pk. pediatric migraine: recognition and treatment. j am osteopath assoc 2005 apr; 105:4 ( supple 2):2s–8s. lewis dw, scott d, rendin v. treatment of pediatric headache. expert opin pharmacother 2002 oct;3(10):1433-42. stewart wf, lipton rb, kolodner k, liberman j, sawyer j. reliability of the migraine disability assessment scores in a population-based sample of headache sufferers. cephalalgia 1999 mar; 19 (2): 107-14. hershey ad,  powers  sw,  vockell alb,  lecates  sl, kabbouche ma, maynard mk. pedmidas: development of a questionnaire to assess disability of migraines in children. neurology 2001 dec; 57(11): 2034-9. hershey ad, powers sw, vockell alb, lecates sl, segers a, kabbouche ma. development of a patient- based grading scale for pedmidas. cephalalgia 2004 oct; 24 (10): 844-9. ferraro d, di trapani g. topiramate in the prevention of pediatric migraine: literature review. j headache pain 2008 jun; 9 (3): 147-50. j w. lance and p j. goadsby. mechanism and management of headache. butterworth-heinemann; 7th edition, 2004. lipton rb, silberstein sd. stewart wf. an update on the epidemiology of migraine. headache 1994 jun; 34(6):319-28.