Which medication, if any, to use to prevent the headache of pediatric migraine has not been established.
We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of amitriptyline (1 mg per ...kilogram of body weight per day), topiramate (2 mg per kilogram per day), and placebo in children and adolescents 8 to 17 years of age with migraine. Patients were randomly assigned in a 2:2:1 ratio to receive one of the medications or placebo. The primary outcome was a relative reduction of 50% or more in the number of headache days in the comparison of the 28-day baseline period with the last 28 days of a 24-week trial. Secondary outcomes were headache-related disability, headache days, number of trial completers, and serious adverse events that emerged during treatment.
A total of 361 patients underwent randomization, and 328 were included in the primary efficacy analysis (132 in the amitriptyline group, 130 in the topiramate group, and 66 in the placebo group). The trial was concluded early for futility after a planned interim analysis. There were no significant between-group differences in the primary outcome, which occurred in 52% of the patients in the amitriptyline group, 55% of those in the topiramate group, and 61% of those in the placebo group (amitriptyline vs. placebo, P=0.26; topiramate vs. placebo, P=0.48; amitriptyline vs. topiramate, P=0.49). There were also no significant between-group differences in headache-related disability, headache days, or the percentage of patients who completed the 24-week treatment period. Patients who received amitriptyline or topiramate had higher rates of several adverse events than those receiving placebo, including fatigue (30% vs. 14%) and dry mouth (25% vs. 12%) in the amitriptyline group and paresthesia (31% vs. 8%) and weight loss (8% vs. 0%) in the topiramate group. Three patients in the amitriptyline group had serious adverse events of altered mood, and one patient in the topiramate group had a suicide attempt.
There were no significant differences in reduction in headache frequency or headache-related disability in childhood and adolescent migraine with amitriptyline, topiramate, or placebo over a period of 24 weeks. The active drugs were associated with higher rates of adverse events. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health; CHAMP ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01581281 ).
Objective
Women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) report high levels of disease‐related symptoms including pain, fatigue, psychological distress, and sleep disturbance. Mindfulness may be ...particularly relevant to women with MBC given the high symptom burden and psychological toll of this disease; however, the topic is understudied among this patient population. Therefore, we aimed to test the associations between mindfulness and patient‐reported symptoms among a sample of women with MBC.
Methods
Sixty‐four women with MBC completed baseline questionnaires of mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire‐Short Form FFMQ‐SF) and symptoms of pain severity and interference, fatigue, psychological distress, and sleep disturbance as part of a randomized controlled trial of a Mindful Yoga intervention. Correlational analyses of data collected at baseline tested associations between the five mindfulness facets (observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity) and patient‐reported measures of symptoms.
Results
Overall, higher mindfulness was associated with lower symptom levels including lower pain severity, pain interference, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance. However, degree of association varied by mindfulness facet. Nonreactivity, nonjudging, and describing showed the most frequent associations and largest effect sizes across symptoms, while observing showed the least frequent associations and lowest effect sizes.
Conclusions
Mindfulness—and in particular nonreactivity, nonjudging, and describing—may be a personal resource for women with MBC in coping with complex symptoms of this life‐threatening illness. Findings are discussed relative to their implications for interventions aimed at increasing mindfulness in this vulnerable population.
To quantify the number and type of students failing to secure basic needs.
Students attending 22 postsecondary schools in the United States in Fall 2019.
The Adult Food Security Module and part of ...the #RealCollege Survey were used to measure food and housing insecurity, respectively. Logistic and linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between selected factors and basic needs insecurities.
Participants (n = 22,153) were classified as 44.1% and 52.3% food insecure and housing insecure, respectively. Homeless students or those who experienced childhood food insecurity were at the greatest odds of college food insecurity. Year in school was the largest contributor to being housing insecure, with PhD or EdD students being 1,157% more likely to experience housing insecurity compared to freshmen.
High prevalence of basic needs insecurities remain. Current campus initiatives may be insufficient, calling for a more holistic approach at the campus, state, and national levels.
To assess the relationship between food insecurity, sleep quality, and days with mental and physical health issues among college students.
An online survey was administered. Food insecurity was ...assessed using the ten-item Adult Food Security Survey Module. Sleep was measured using the nineteen-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Mental health and physical health were measured using three items from the Healthy Days Core Module. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between food insecurity, sleep quality, and days with poor mental and physical health.
Twenty-two higher education institutions.
College students (n 17 686) enrolled at one of twenty-two participating universities.
Compared with food-secure students, those classified as food insecure (43·4 %) had higher PSQI scores indicating poorer sleep quality (P < 0·0001) and reported more days with poor mental (P < 0·0001) and physical (P < 0·0001) health as well as days when mental and physical health prevented them from completing daily activities (P < 0·0001). Food-insecure students had higher adjusted odds of having poor sleep quality (adjusted OR (AOR): 1·13; 95 % CI 1·12, 1·14), days with poor physical health (AOR: 1·01; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·02), days with poor mental health (AOR: 1·03; 95 % CI 1·02, 1·03) and days when poor mental or physical health prevented them from completing daily activities (AOR: 1·03; 95 % CI 1·02, 1·04).
College students report high food insecurity which is associated with poor mental and physical health, and sleep quality. Multi-level policy changes and campus wellness programmes are needed to prevent food insecurity and improve student health-related outcomes.
Objective
To describe baseline headache characteristics of children and adolescents participating in a multicenter, randomized, double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled, comparative effectiveness study of ...amitriptyline, topiramate, and placebo for the prevention of migraine (CHAMP Study).
Methods
Children and adolescents (age 8–17 years old, inclusive) diagnosed with migraine with or without aura, having headaches at least four times per month were enrolled from 2012 through 2014. The trial involved a baseline period (minimum of 28 days) during which prospective diaries were completed and demographics and headache features obtained.
Results
A total of 488 children and adolescents (mean age 14.0 ± 2.4 years) agreed to participate in the trial, with 361 randomized and 127 not randomized. Randomized subjects had a 5.5 ± 3.1 year history of headaches, with 15.1 ± 7.1 headache days per month (based upon retrospective report at screening visit). Prospective diaries reported 11.5 ± 6.1 headache days per 28 day baseline. Across this 28 day period, reported headache days per week were stable (about 3 headache days per week). Recording of individual headache features by diary (n = 4136 headache days) showed characteristics consistent with migraine (mean duration 10.5 ± 8.1 hours, mean severity 6.0 ± 2.1, 60% throbbing, 55% with activity worsening headaches, 55% with photophobia, and 47% with phonophobia).
Conclusions
Baseline data from the CHAMP Study suggested that the randomized sample was representative of the real world population of children and adolescents that present for treatment of migraine. Headaches in children and adolescents recorded during a 28 day prospective baseline period in this multi‐site comparative effectiveness study did not change over the course of the baseline period, even though a clear diagnosis, recommendation for effective acute treatment, and standardized education about healthy habits occurred prior to the diary collection period.
Objective
To examine group differences in self‐reported migraine days among youth who completed the Childhood and Adolescent Migraine Prevention (CHAMP) trial prior to its closure and explore the ...relationship between self‐reported and “nosology‐derived” (i.e., International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition ICHD‐3) migraine days.
Background
The CHAMP trial compared amitriptyline and topiramate to placebo for migraine prevention in youth and proposed to analyze change in migraine days as a secondary outcome. There is considerable variability in the field regarding what constitutes a “migraine day,” how this is determined and reported in trials, and how consistent these measures are with diagnostic nosology.
Methods
CHAMP trial completers (N = 175) were randomized to receive amitriptyline (n = 77), topiramate (n = 63), or placebo (n = 35). Participants maintained daily headache diaries where they reported each day with headache and if they considered that headache to be a migraine. For each headache day, participants completed a symptom record and reported about symptoms such as pain location(s) and presence of nausea/vomiting or photophobia and phonophobia. We examined group differences in self‐reported migraine days at trial completion (summed from trial weeks 20–24) compared to baseline. We also used an algorithm to determine whether participants’ symptom reports met ICHD‐3 criteria for migraine without aura, and examined the association between self‐reported and “nosology‐derived” migraine days.
Results
Results showed no significant differences between groups in self‐reported migraine days over the course of the trial. Self‐reported and “nosology‐derived” migraine days during the baseline and treatment phases were strongly associated (r's = 0.73 and 0.83, respectively; p's < 0.001).
Conclusion
Regardless of treatment, CHAMP trial completers showed clinically important reductions in self‐reported migraine days over the course of the trial (about 3.8 days less). The strong association between self‐reported and “nosology‐derived” migraine days suggests youth with migraine can recognize a day with migraine and reliably report their headache features and symptoms. Greater rigor and transparency in the calculation and reporting of migraine days in trials is needed.
Objective
Identify preventive medication treatment response trajectories among youth participating in the Childhood and Adolescent Migraine Prevention study.
Methods
Data were evaluated from 328 ...youth (ages 8–17). Childhood and Adolescent Migraine Prevention study participants completed headache diaries during a 28-day baseline period and a 168-day active treatment period during which youth took amitriptyline, topiramate, or placebo. Daily headache occurrence trajectories were established across baseline and active treatment periods using longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling. We tested potential treatment group differences. We also compared final models to trajectory findings from a clinical trial of cognitive behavioral therapy plus amitriptyline for youth with chronic migraine to test for reproducibility.
Results
Daily headache occurrence showed stability across baseline. Active treatment models revealed decreases in headache frequency that were most notable early in the trial period. Baseline and active treatment models did not differ by treatment group and replicated trajectory cognitive behavioral therapy plus amitriptyline trial findings.
Conclusions
Replicating headache frequency trajectories across clinical trials provides strong evidence that youth can improve quickly. Given no effect for medication, we need to better understand what drives this clinically meaningful improvement. Results also suggest an expected trajectory of treatment response for use in designing and determining endpoints for future clinical trials.
Trial Registration. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01581281
Abstract
Objective
Examine preventive medication adherence among youth with migraine.
Methods
Adherence (self-report, pill count, and blood serum drug levels) was assessed as an ancillary study that ...utilized data from 328 CHAMP Study participants (ages 8–17). CHAMP was a multisite trial of preventive medications. Participants completed a prospective headache diary during a six-month active treatment period during which youth took amitriptyline, topiramate, or placebo pill twice daily. Self-reported medication adherence was collected via daily diary. At monthly study visits, pill count measures were captured. At trial month 3 (trial midpoint) and 6 (end of active trial), blood serum drug levels were obtained. Self-report and pill count adherence percentages were calculated for the active trial period, at each monthly study visit, and in the days prior to participants’ mid-trial blood draw. Percentages of nonzero drug levels were calculated to assess blood serum drug level data. Adherence measures were compared and assessed in context of several sociodemographic factors. Multiple regression analyses investigated medication adherence as a predictor of headache outcomes.
Results
Self-report and pill count adherence rates were high (over 90%) and sustained over the course of the trial period. Serum drug level adherence rates were somewhat lower and decreased significantly (from 84% to 76%) across the trial period t (198) = 3.23, p = .001. Adherence measures did not predict headache days at trial end; trial midpoint serum drug levels predicted headache-related disability.
Conclusions
Youth with migraine can demonstrate and sustain relatively high levels of medication adherence over the course of a clinical trial.
Objective. There has been a growing recognition of the need for better pharmacologic management of chronic pain among older adults. To address this need, the National Institutes of Health Pain ...Consortium sponsored an “Expert Panel Discussion on the Pharmacological Management of Chronic Pain in Older Adults” conference in September 2010 to identify research gaps and strategies to address them. Specific emphasis was placed on ascertaining gaps regarding use of opioid and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory medications because of continued uncertainties regarding their risks and benefits.
Design. Eighteen panel members provided oral presentations; each was followed by a multidisciplinary panel discussion. Meeting transcripts and panelists' slide presentations were reviewed to identify the gaps and the types of studies and research methods panelists suggested could best address them.
Results. Fifteen gaps were identified in the areas of treatment (e.g., uncertainty regarding the long‐term safety and efficacy of commonly prescribed analgesics), epidemiology (e.g., lack of knowledge regarding the course of common pain syndromes), and implementation (e.g., limited understanding of optimal strategies to translate evidence‐based pain treatments into practice). Analyses of data from electronic health care databases, observational cohort studies, and ongoing cohort studies (augmented with pain and other relevant outcomes measures) were felt to be practical methods for building an age‐appropriate evidence base to improve the pharmacologic management of pain in later life.
Conclusion. Addressing the gaps presented in the current report was judged by the panel to have substantial potential to improve the health and well‐being of older adults with chronic pain.
Migraine is a common neurological disease that often begins in childhood and continues into adulthood; approximately 6 million children and adolescents in the United States cope with migraine, and ...many frequently experience significant disability and multiple headache days per week. Although pharmacological preventive treatments have been shown to offer some benefit to youth with migraine, additional research is needed to understand whether and how these benefits are sustained.
To survey clinical status of youth with migraine who participated in the 24-week Childhood and Adolescent Migraine Prevention (CHAMP) trial over a 3-year follow-up period.
This survey study used internet-based surveys collected from youth ages 8 to 17 years at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months after completion of the CHAMP trial, which randomized participants to amitriptyline, topiramate, or placebo. At the end of the trial, the study drug was stopped, and participants received clinical care of their choice thereafter. The CHAMP trial was conducted between May 2012 and November 2015, and survey follow-up was conducted June 2013 to June 2018. Participants in this survey study were representative of those randomized in the trial. Data were analyzed from March 2020 to April 2021.
Survey completion.
Headache days, disability (assessed using the Pediatric Migraine Disability Scale PedMIDAS), and self-report of ongoing use of prescription preventive medication.
A total of 205 youth (mean SD age, 14.2 2.3 years; 139 68% girls; mean SD history of migraine, 5.7 3.1 years) participated in the survey. Retention of participants was 189 participants (92%) at month 6, 182 participants (88%) at month 12, 163 participants (80%) at month 18, 165 participants (80%) at month 24, and 155 participants (76%) at month 36. Over the course of the 3-year follow-up, participants consistently maintained meaningful reductions in headache days (mean SD headache days per 28 days: CHAMP baseline, 11.1 6.0 days; CHAMP completion, 5.0 5.7 days; 3-year follow-up, 6.1 6.1 days) and disability (mean SD score: CHAMP baseline, 40.9 26.4; CHAMP completion, 17.9 22.1; 3-year follow-up, 12.3 20.0). At 3 years after completion of the CHAMP trial, headache days were approximately 1.5 per week (changed from about 3 per week at trial baseline) and disability had improved from the moderate range to the low mild range on the PedMIDAS. Longitudinal analyses showed that amitriptyline and topiramate did not explain intercept random effects for either mean rate of headache days per week (amitriptyline: estimate SE, 0.07 0.05; P = .16; topiramate: estimate SE, 0.04 0.05; P = .50) or headache disability PedMIDAS total score (amitriptyline: estimate SE, 0.25 0.38; P = .52; topiramate: estimate SE, -0.09 0.39; P = .82) changes over time. Of 153 participants who reported on prescription drug use at 3 years, only 1 participant (1%) reported using prevention medication, and most participants reported no medication use at most time points.
These findings suggest that children and adolescents with longer than 5 years history of migraine who participated in the CHAMP trial may sustain positive clinical outcomes over time, even after discontinuing preventive pill-based treatment. This survey study could inform use and discontinuation timing of pharmacological preventive therapies for migraine in youth ages 8 to 17 years. Research is needed to examine mechanisms of treatment improvement and maintenance for preventive therapies, as well as placebo, in the pediatric population.
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