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. 2008 Jan 23;9(1):37–41. doi: 10.1007/s10194-008-0002-5

The effect of sodium valproate on chronic daily headache and its subgroups

Vedat Ali Yurekli 1,✉, Galip Akhan 1, Suleyman Kutluhan 1, Ertugrul Uzar 1, Hasan Rifat Koyuncuoglu 1, Fatih Gultekin 2
PMCID: PMC3476175  PMID: 18231713

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of sodium valproate (VPA) on chronic daily headache (CDH) in a prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Seventy patients were included in the study. Twenty-nine had chronic migraine (CM) and 41 had chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). VPA and placebo were applied for 3 months to 40 and 30 patients, respectively. Visual analog scale (VAS) and pain frequency (PF) were used for evaluation. VPA decreased the maximum pain VAS levels (MaxVAS) and PF at the end of the study (P = 0.028 and P = 0.000, respectively), but did not change general pain VAS (GnVAS) levels (P = 0.198). In CM patients, the decreases in MaxVAS, GnVAS and PF parameters were more in VPA treated patients (P = 0.006, P = 0.03, and P = 0.000, respectively). VPA treatment caused more reduction in PF than placebo in the CTTH subgroup (P = 0.000). VPA is effective in the prophylactic treatment of CDH by reducing MaxVAS levels and PF. It was more effective in CM than in CTTH.

Keywords: Chronic daily headache, Chronic migraine, Chronic tension type headache, Sodium valproate

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Footnotes

This study was presented as a poster at “8th Headache Congress Of The European Headache Federation” in Valencia, Spain, between 26–29 April, 2006 and published as an abstract in The Journal of Headache and Pain, Vol 7, Suppl 1 S39 April 2006.

An editorial commentary on this article can be found at http://doi.dx.org/10.1007/s10194-008-0010-5.

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