Palevitch 1997.
Study characteristics | ||
Methods | Randomised, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind trial. Cross‐over. Withdrawal study | |
Participants | 57 patients aged 9 to 65 years. Migraine diagnosed by medical examination; probably migraine with and without aura, though this is unclear (diagnostic criteria not specified) | |
Interventions | 2 capsules (50 mg) of powdered feverfew daily for 1 month or placebo (dry parsley leaves, Petroselinum crispum) after a 60‐day open‐label phase in which all participants received 100 mg feverfew | |
Outcomes | Intensity of headache. Severity of nausea and vomiting | |
Notes | Both groups were treated with feverfew in the preliminary open‐label period for 60 days. No wash‐out period. No mention of migraine history, inclusion criteria or drop‐outs/withdrawals Included participants as young as 9 years old Oxford score: 2/5 (R = 1, B = 1, WD = 0) |
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Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Described as randomised but randomisation process not described |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Not described |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Described as double‐blind but does not mention who was blinded and how blinding was done |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Drop‐outs not reported |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | High risk | Outcome measures not clearly stated. Important outcome measures like frequency of migraine attacks not included |
Other bias | Unclear risk | Unclear risk of bias due to sample size (n = 57) |