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Rizatriptan vs Placebo for Attacks of Vestibular Migraine: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Jeffrey P. Staab, Scott D Eggers, Joanna C. Jen, Allison M. LeMahieu, J. Geske, Honghu Liu, Deanna R. Hofschulte, G. Gonzalez et al.

JAMA Neurology, 2025

222 participants · 15 citations

Abstract

Importance

Vestibular migraine has no established treatments.

Objective

To test the efficacy of rizatriptan for treating vestibular migraine attacks.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This double-blind, randomized clinical trial of rizatriptan vs placebo was conducted from December 2014 through July 2020 (data analyses in 2021 and sensitivity analyses in 2022 and 2024) at 2 tertiary neurotologic centers. Adults with vestibular migraine were included.

Intervention

All participants underwent prospective observation to confirm diagnosis and illness activity and were then randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive rizatriptan 10 mg or placebo to treat up to 3 vestibular migraine attacks per participant.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Participants rated symptoms as absent, mild, moderate, or severe at scheduled intervals. Primary outcomes were the percentage of attacks with reductions in vertigo and unsteadiness/dizziness from moderate or severe to absent or mild at 1 hour. Secondary outcomes were the percentage of attacks with complete resolution of vestibular symptoms at 1 hour; reductions in headache and associated symptoms at 1 hour; use of rescue medications after 1 hour; reductions in vestibular, headache, and associated symptoms at 24 hours without rescue medications; treatment satisfaction and quality of life at 48 hours; and rates of serious adverse effects and discontinuation due to adverse effects.

Results

Of 222 total participants (mean [SD] age, 42.3 [11.7] years; 70.7% were…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 222 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

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