Symptomatic or prophylactic treatment of weekend migraine: an open-label, nonrandomized, comparison study of frovatriptan versus naproxen sodium versus no therapy

Mario Guidotti,¹ Caterina Barrilà,¹ Serena Leva,¹ Claudio De Piazza,¹ Stefano Omboni<sup>2

1</sup>Department of Neurology, Valduce Hospital, Como, ²Italian Institute of Telemedicine, Varese, Italy

Background: Migraine often occurs during weekends. The efficacy of frovatriptan, naproxen sodium, or no therapy for the acute or prophylactic treatment of weekend migraineurs was tested in an open-label, nonrandomized pilot study.
Methods: Twenty-eight subjects (mean age 36 ± 12 years, including 18 females) suffering from migraine without aura were followed up for six consecutive weekends. No treatment was administered during the first two weekends. On the third and fourth weekends, patients were given frovatriptan 2.5 mg and on the fifth and sixth weekends naproxen sodium 500 mg. Treatment was taken on Saturday and Sunday morning, regardless of the occurrence of migraine. Efficacy was evaluated through a diary, where patients reported the severity of migraine on a scale from 0 (no migraine) to 10 (severe migraine) and use of rescue medication.
Results: The migraine severity score was significantly lower with frovatriptan (4.8 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.8–5.9]) than with naproxen sodium (5.7 [CI 5.1–6.4], P < 0.05 versus frovatriptan) or no therapy (6.6 [6.2–7.0], P < 0.01 versus frovatriptan). The difference in favor of frovatriptan was more striking in patients not taking rescue medication (frovatriptan, 1.9 [1.5–2.3]) versus naproxen sodium 3.6 [3.0–4.2], P < 0.001) and versus no therapy (5.1 [4.4–5.8], P < 0.001) and on the second day of treatment. The rate of use of rescue medication was significantly (P < 0.05) lower on frovatriptan (12.5%) than on naproxen sodium (31.3%) or no therapy (56.3%).
Conclusion: This pilot study provides the first evidence of the efficacy of a second-generation triptan as symptomatic or prophylactic treatment for weekend migraine.

Keywords: migraine, frovatriptan, naproxen sodium, weekend