Clinical treatment of chronic and episodic migraine with onabotulinumtoxinA in a real-world setting

Abstract

OnabotulinumtoxinA (OnabotA) appears to be an effective prophylactic treatment for chronic migraine (CM), but its use in patients with episodic migraine (EM) has been little explored. We set out to assess the clinical efficacy of OnabotA in a real-life setting, focusing particularly on EM patients. This is a longitudinal, prospective, single-center analysis of 115 migraine patients [70 with CM, 21 with low-frequency EM (LFEM), and 24 with high-frequency EM (HFEM)] who received OnabotA in routine clinical practice in 2005–2015. In this study, the dosage regimen, the number of headaches, impact on quality of life (HIT-6 impact test) and the adverse events were among the parameters assessed. OnabotA treatment significantly reduced the number of headaches experienced by CM and EM patients, also increasing the number of responders (> 50% reduction in headache days). The quality of life of EM patients improved significantly, reducing the HIT-6 scores in both LFEM and HFEM patients. Adverse events were reported in 40% of patients, always mild and transient. OnabotA is an effective and safe prophylactic treatment for migraine in routine clinical practice. It significantly improves a patients’ quality of life, particularly that of those suffering from CM and HFEM.