News - Hypertension Week of Jan. 5, 2003/ Vol. 2 No. 01

Study: Anti-Hypertensive Drug Effective Against Migraines

The anti-hypertensive drug candesartan is effective and safe in relieving migraine headaches, according to a study reported in the Jan. 1st issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Candesartan is an angiotensin II receptor blocker. The drug is sold under the brand name of Atacand and is manufactured by AstraZeneca. The study's finding is important because few well-tolerated drugs are currently available to relieve migraine headaches.

In their study of 68 patients aged 18 to 65 who suffered two to six migraine attacks per month, Norwegian researchers found that participants taking candesartan went fewer hours and days with a headache and had headaches of less severity than those receiving a placebo.

Over a 12-week period the mean number of days with a headache was 18.5 with placebo versus 13.6 with candesartan. The candesartan group fared better than the placebo group in hours with headache (139 versus 95), days with migraine (12.6 versus 9.0), hours with migraine (92.2 versus 59.4), headache severity index (293 versus 191), level of disability (20.6 versus 14.1) and sick leave days (3.9 versus 1.4).

The tolerability level of candesartan was also comparable to the placebo.

Other sources: Journal of the American Medical Association (2003;289:65-69)