Study Finds Placebo Works as Well as Pills for Migraines in Children

A study published in the new issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics on Monday has found that placebo medications appear to work nearly as well at relieving migraines in children as migraine-specific medication itself. The study looked at 21 different randomized trials that each pitted placebo medications against two or more migraine-specific medications.

The researchers who conducted this analysis of the previous trials concluded that there were very few medications on the market that actually appeared to help children coping with migraines. That held true whether the migraines occurred daily or were episodic.

Here is some of the key information that emerged on Monday regarding migraine medications and kids.

* According to the JAMA Pediatrics report, 20 of the trials that were analyzed dealt with the effect of medication on episodic migraines in children, while one additional study looked at the effect of medication on chronic daily migraines in children.

* The researchers conducting the analysis found that many of the current medications given to combat episodic migraines -- including clonidine, flunarizine, pizotifen, propranolol, and valproate -- had no effect at all on such migraines in children and adolescents.

* The only drugs that did seem to prove effective in treating episodic migraines, topiramate and trazodone, only appeared to reduce the number of headaches a child or adolescent experienced by one a month.

* For children and adolescents that have chronic daily migraines, the placebo showed more effectiveness in reducing the number of those headaches than any medication currently on the market.

* Researchers expressed their dismay at the findings, as did other health professionals. Dr. Jennifer Bickel, a neurologist who specializes in headaches at the Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., told Reuters on Monday that "parents should be aware that our medication choices aren't as good as they should be."

* Bickel also noted that doctors have no choice but to prescribe children headache medications that have proven effective for adults with migraines, because there are none for children or adolescents on the market.

* According to a report by Bloomberg on Monday, as many as 1 in 20 children get at least occasional migraines. That percentage equals out to some 8 million children in the United States.

* The authors of the JAMA Pediatrics study stated in their conclusion that the high rate of effectiveness of placebo medications indicates that more research is needed.

* William Rodriguez, who is the Pediatric Science Director at the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Therapeutic Pediatrics, told Bloomberg in an email on Monday that part of the problem is monetary, and that "a failed pediatric trial seldom motivates a sponsor to conduct more pediatric trials." Therefore, diseases and medications in children and adolescents are rarely researched at the level reserved for those same diseases and medications in adults.

Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-placebo-works-well-pills-migraines-children-220800526.html

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