Evidence Hub

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers for the prevention of migraines

Gales BJ, Bailey EK, Reed AN, Gales MA

The Annals of pharmacotherapy, 2010

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the literature examining the efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) for migraine prophylaxis.

DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE (1966-October 2009) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts were searched using the terms migraine, headache, renin-angiotensin system, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, angiotensin receptor blocker, aldosterone antagonist, and the individual agents in these classes.

STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: English-language human clinical trials, case reports, and systematic reviews were evaluated for efficacy and safety data. The references of reviewed articles were examined to identify additional sources.

DATA SYNTHESIS: Preventative trials evaluating ACE inhibitors consist of a case series, 2 open-label trials, and a placebo-controlled trial. Lisinopril reduced headache hours 20%, headache days 17%, and migraine days 21% versus placebo in the controlled trial (p 50%) reductions in migraine measures were more common (52-66%) in open-label ACE inhibitor trials than in the controlled (32-36%) trial. Preventive trials evaluating ARBs consist of a meta-analysis, an open-label trial, and 2 placebo-controlled trials. Candesartan reduced headache hours 31%, headache days 26%, and migraine days 28% versus placebo in the first controlled trial (p 50%) in migraine measures were more common (54-88%) in open-label ARB trials than in the controlled (26-38%) trials. A prescription…

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free