Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Headache frequency
RCT	100 children aged 5–15 years with migraine headache, based on the 2nd edition on The International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-II) criteria, and with frequent (at least 1 headache attack per week) or disabling headache (>20 on the PedMIDAS scale)	Mean monthly headache frequency after 3 months of treatment 8.8 with propranolol 4.1 with topiramate	P = 0.001	Effect size not calculated	topiramate
RCT	86 children aged 3–15 years with migraine (defined by the 2004 International Headache Society [IHS] criteria) and >3 headaches per month, or severe disabling/intolerable headache	Mean number of headaches at 4 months' follow-up 1.8 with propranolol 2.3 with topiramate	P = 0.643		Not significant
Headache duration
RCT	100 children aged 5–15 years with migraine headache, based on the ICHD-II criteria, and with frequent (at least 1 headache attack per week) or disabling headache (>20 on the PedMIDAS scale)	Mean headache duration at 3 months 1.35 hours with propranolol 0.56 hours with topiramate	P = 0.0001	Effect size not calculated	topiramate
RCT	86 children aged 3–15 years with migraine (defined by the 2004 IHS criteria) and >3 headaches per month, or severe disabling/intolerable headache	Mean duration of headache attacks at 4 months' follow-up 2.6 with propranolol 2.2 with topiramate	P = 0.827		Not significant
Severity of headache
RCT	100 children aged 5–15 years with migraine headache, based on the ICHD-II criteria, and with frequent (at least 1 headache attack per week) or disabling headache (>20 on the PedMIDAS scale)	Severity of headache (mean visual analogue scale score [from 0 = no pain to 10 = severe pain]) at 3 months 4.2 with propranolol 2.8 with topiramate	P = 0.0001	Effect size not calculated	topiramate
RCT	86 children aged 3–15 years with migraine (defined by the 2004 IHS criteria) and >3 headaches per month, or severe disabling/intolerable headache	Proportion of children with headache severity affecting daily activities at 4 months' follow-up 6/40 (15%) with propranolol 6/38 (16%) with topiramate	Reported as not significant between groups at all follow-up visits P >0.05		Not significant