52% migraine sufferers found relief from headache with Aspirin: review

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 15 2010

Consider this

Nearly 9 million people in UK suffer from debilitating headaches called migraine and this leads to a severe impairment in quality of life and affects productivity. The headaches associated with an attack may last for several days often bringing nausea and a general feeling of uneasiness in presence of lights and sounds.

According to The World Health Organization migraines are one of the most disabling long-term conditions. Medication for migraine includes Aspirin that is available over-the-counter and may be taken as tablets or effervescent tablets (those that get dissolved in water). There has been no systematic review of many studies to assess the efficacy of aspirin in this condition.

Review of 13 studies

There has been a new review of multiple studies by researchers at the University of Oxford that concludes that high dose Aspirin (up to 1000 mg) may help migraine sufferers. It was published in the Cochrane Library by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. High dose aspirin is found to reduce headache due to migraine within two hours for more than 50% patients. The review analyzed the results of 13 major clinical trials of aspirin on migraine involving a total of 4,222 patients. The report showed that 52% felt pain relief in two hours and 24% felt the pain completely gone. Aspirin also improved symptoms of nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. I comparison only 11% had pain relief with dummy treatment or placebo. This review also showed that aspirin with or without anti-nausea drug called metoclopramide worked equally effectively as 50 milligrams of Sumatriptan, a common prescription drug given for migraine.

Lacunae in the review

What was lacking in the review was the fact that frequently taking such high doses of aspirin can have severe side effects. It can lead to irritation of the stomach and thus lead to stomach problems. Also this review compares aspirin with dummy or placebo treatment. More reviews of comparisons of aspirin with other pain killers are necessary.

Expert speak

According to Sheena Derry, from the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, who is one of the lead researchers of the review, “My advice for sufferers would be to try aspirin or other over-the-counter medicines as a first choice and then go onto more migraine specific drugs if these do not work…A significant number of people will benefit from aspirin.” She added that, “We are currently doing reviews of how Paracetamol and ibuprofen impact on migraines.”

According to Wendy Thomas, chief executive of The Migraine Trust, you need to consult your GP first for migraine, “to get a firm diagnosis of their headache even if they find over the counter medication to be effective”.