Efficacy and Tolerance of Pizotifen for the Migraine Treatment in a Group of Children in a Brazilian Amazon's City: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND

The repercussions of inadequate treatment in children with migraine can be disastrous. For this reason, our study aimed to evaluate the pizotifen's efficacy and tolerance in the control of migraine attacks in children.

METHODS

This research was a cross-sectional, quantitative and retrospective study. The medical records of 65 patients children or adolescents diagnosed with migraine according to the criteria of third edition of the International Classification of Headaches, and treated with pizotifen, were analyzed, considering the follow-up of one year after starting treatment. The correlation between the selected variables was performed using Fisher's exact test.

RESULTS

This study presents an average age of 10.4 years. The female gender predominated, especially in the pubescent age group, which corresponded to 69%. Migraine was disabling in 57% of cases. There was an improvement in 84.6% of the children with the use of pizotifen, and 18.5% of the patients made irregular use of the medication and 100% of these evolved with recurrent attacks. Side effects occurred in 16.9%, the most common being increased appetite and weight gain. Gender, puberty, frequency of attacks and migraine equivalents did not have a statistically significant influence on migraine control with the use of the drug.

CONCLUSIONS

Pizotifen proved to be effective in reducing the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks and had an acceptable tolerance profile, which makes it a good therapeutic option. Randomized clinical trials with a larger number of participants are needed to confirm our findings.