Table 3. Secondary outcomes of placebo controlled trials.
| Episodic Migraines | |||
| 50% Improvement in Headaches | |||
| Beta-blocker | RR (95% CI)/NNT | Heterogeneity | Quality of Evidence |
| Atenolol | 1.8 (1.0 to 3.2)/6.3 (3.2–33.3) | — | Low |
| Metoprolol | 1.7 (1.0 to 2.9)/5 (3.5–8.8) | Q = 8.85, df = 3, I2 = 66.1% | Moderate |
| Nadolol | 5.1 (0.32 to 81.3)/3.7 (1.9–90.9) | — | Low |
| Propranolol | 1.4 (1.1 to 1.8)/5.3 (3.4–11.4) | Q = 26.1, df = 10, I2 = 59.5% | High |
| Timolol | 1.8 (1.4 to 2.3)/4.5 (3.1–7.7) | Q = 0.86, df = 2, I2 = 0.0% | Moderate |
| Analgesic Medication Consumption | |||
|
Beta-blocker Time point |
Weighted Mean Difference (95% CI) | Heterogeneity | |
| Metoprolol (Baseline analgesic doses/month: 6.7, 95% CI: 3.4 to 10.0) | |||
| Baseline | -0.17 (-1.4 to 1.1) | Q = 0.5, df = 3, I2 = 0.0% | High |
| 4 weeks | -2.4 (-4.9 to 0.08) | — | Low |
| 8 weeks | -4.0 (-7.5 to -0.48) | Q = 3.49, df = 2, I2 = 42.8% | Moderate |
| Propranolol (Baseline analgesic doses/month 11.1, 95% CI: 4.8–17.4) | |||
| Baseline | 0.0 (-1.9 to 1.9) | Q = 0.26, df = 7, I2 = 0.00 | High |
| 4 weeks | -6.0 (-11.8 to -0.12) | — | Low |
| 8 weeks | -2.9 (-25.9 to 20.2) | — | Low |
| 12 weeks | -2.1 (-3.2 to -0.95) | Q = 33.82, df = 5, I2 = 85.2% | High |
| Headache Index | |||
|
Beta-blocker Time point |
Standardized Mean Difference (95% CI) | Heterogeneity | |
| Alprenolol | |||
| 8 weeks | 0.05 (-0.47 to 0.58) | — | Low |
| Atenolol | |||
| 8 weeks | -0.62 (-1.2 to -0.004) | — | Low |
| 12 weeks | -0.65 (-1.3 to -0.01) | — | |
| Metoprolol | |||
| Baseline | 0.12 (-0.22 to 0.47) | Q = 0.07, df = 1, I2 = 0.0% | Moderate |
| 8 weeks | -0.42 (-0.77 to -0.07) | Q = 0.98, df = 1, I2 = 0.0% | |
| Nadolol | |||
| Baseline | 0.12 (-0.24 to 0.48) | — | Low |
| 4 weeks | 0.16 (-0.20 to 0.52) | — | |
| 8 weeks | -0.14 (-0.50 to 0.23) | — | |
| 12 weeks | -0.27 (-0.64 to 0.10) | — | |
| Oxprenolol | |||
| 4 weeks | -1.7 (-2.3 to -1.1) | — | Low |
| 8 weeks | -0.42 (-0.09 to 0.93) | — | |
| Pindolol | |||
| Baseline | 0.14 (-0.52 to 0.80) | — | Low |
| 4 weeks | 0.27 (-0.40 to 0.93) | — | |
| Propranolol | |||
| 0 weeks | -0.03 (-0.23 to 0.16) | Q = 6.24, df = 6, I2 = 19.9% | High |
| 4 weeks | -0.66 (-1.3 to -0.01) | — | Low |
| 8 weeks | -0.48 (-0.75 to -0.22) | Q = 2.54, df = 4, I2 = 0.0% | High |
| 12 weeks | -0.41 (-0.65 to -0.17) | Q = 2.56, df = 3, I2 = 0.0% | High |
| Timolol | |||
| Baseline | 0.0 (-0.31 to 0.31) | — | Low |
| 12 weeks | -0.53 (-0.84 to -0.21) | — | |
| Headache Severity | |||
| Metoprolol | |||
| Baseline | -0.06 (-0.33 to 0.21) | Q = 1.65, df = 2, I2 = 0.0% | High |
| 8 weeks | -0.53 (-0.71 to -0.14) | Q = 0.15, df = 1, I2 = 0.0% | Moderate |
| Propranolol | |||
| Baseline | (-0.21 to 0.21) | Q = 0.00, df = 2, I2 = 0.0% | High |
| 8 weeks | -0.51 (-0.76 to -0.26) | Q = 1.73, df = 4, I2 = 0.0% | |
| 12 weeks | 0.18 (-0.30 to 0.01) | Q = 3.70, df = 2, I2 = 46.0% | |
| Timolol | |||
| Baseline | 0.00 (-0.31 to 0.31) | — | Low |
| 12 weeks | -0.35 (-0.66 to -0.04) | — | |
| Headache Duration (hours) | |||
|
Beta-blocker Time point |
Weighted Mean Difference (95% CI) | Heterogeneity | |
| Bisoprolol (baseline duration 20.6 hours, 95% CI: 0 to 46.7) | |||
| Baseline | -3.9 (-8.6 to 0.77) | — | Low |
| 12 weeks | -1.9 (-6.5 to 2.5) | — | |
| Metoprolol (baseline duration: 11.6 hours, 95% CI: 2.6 to 20.5) | |||
| Baseline | 0.06 (-1.6 to 1.7) | — | Low |
| 4 weeks | -2.6 (-4.2 to -0.88) | — | |
| 8 weeks | -2.0 (-3.7 to -0.26) | — | |
| Propranolol (baseline duration: 28.9 hours, 95% CI: 0 to 72.3) | |||
| Baseline | 0.22 (-2.4 to 2.8) | Q = 0.99, df = 2, I2 = 0.0% | High |
| 8 weeks | -6.1 (-16.2 to -0.39) | Q = 5.67, df = 2, I2 = 64.7% | |
| 12 weeks | -1.6 (-3.0 to -0.11) | Q = 2.50, df = 4, I2 = 0.0% | |
| Pindolol (baseline duration: 6.6 hours, 95% CI: 0 to 23.7) | |||
| Baseline | -0.93 (-9,7 to 7.8) | Q = 0.01, df = 1, I2 = 0.0% | Moderate |
| 4 weeks | -0.18 (-8.8 to 8.4) | Q = 0.01, df = 1, I2 = 0.0% | |
| Timolol (baseline duration 9.4 hours, 95% CI: 0 to 19.8) | |||
| Baseline | (-1.3 to 1.3) | — | Low |
| 8 weeks | -0.70 (-2.2 to 0.80) | — | |
| 12 weeks | -0.54 (-2.7 to 1.6) | — | |
| Tension-type Headache | |||
| 50% improvement in Headache | |||
| Beta-blocker | RR (95% CI) | Heterogeneity | |
| Pindolol + Amitriptyline | 3.8 (1.5 to 9.3) | — | Low |
| Headache Index | |||
| Propranolol | |||
| 4 weeks | -0.52 (-1.0 to -0.003) | — | Low |
| Severity | |||
| Pindolol + Amitriptyline | |||
| Baseline | -0.29 (-0.34 to 0.91) | — | Low |
| 8 weeks | -0.68 (-1.3 to -0.04) | — | |