In the United Kingdom, one out of 50 will be diagnosed with episodic migraine by 10 years of age, and one out of 10 will get it before the age of 60.
Most women do not report any other triggers; only some women report headaches that are associated with other triggers, such as fatigue, dizziness, neck pain, or stressful situations.
Migraine attacks happen about 20 times a year for 10% of the population, with a 1/4 prevalence associated with headache severity. Although women are most affected, headache is a disease that affects all age groups due to socioeconomic and interpersonal differences.
In this large US population-based study, episodic migraine affects 11.2% of the individuals. Nearly half suffer from moderate to severe disability; however, only 2% were admitted to rehabilitation services.
A patient who has presented to a physician within one or two days with a headache of new onset, with no previous history is most likely to have episodic migraine. Migrainous episodes can usually be distinguished from other headache syndromes, and treatment should focus on treatment of episodic migraines.
There are no definitive treatments for episodic migraine. Appropriate evaluation of each migraine episode should be made after treatment planning. Treatment will typically involve medications, therapy, or a combination.
We conclude that galcanezumab is well tolerated in people. When used as intended in this observational study, galcanezumab was associated with little or no significant loss of efficacy with repeated administrations and no serious adverse events occurred. summary: Data from a recent study examines the safety of galcanezumab, which has shown some promise in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis in a small clinical trial, in people with episodic migraine. We find the drug was well tolerated.
Data from a recent study suggest that a significant percentage of patients presenting with recurrent episodic migraine could have additional episodic migraine attacks that are actually severe.
Although the evidence base is sparse, and the studies published often do not have sufficient methodology, the evidence on this review does suggest that there is substantial improvement from placebo in terms of reduction vs non-migraine sufferers in pain and treatment response. There is no evidence of worsening over time in both acute and chronic episodic migraine with respect to pain intensity, disability and quality of life. One review of one of the medications (palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) suggests its efficacy may be transient and of limited duration, and that the evidence base is less robust. There is no evidence in episodic migraine that it results in significant improvements in sleep, alertness or cognitive function.
Familial clustering was observed in this population. Previous reports of high prevalence and familial clustering of episodic migraine have yielded support for a genetic basis. Results from a recent clinical trial illustrates the potential role of genetic factors, independent of familial clustering, in the etiopathogenesis and clinical expression of episodic migraine.
Galcanezumab was found to be more effective than the placebo in reducing migraine-related disability and alleviating migraine-associated fear of pain and anxiety. Furthermore, Galcanezumab shows promise for providing superior outcome when compared to sumatriptan and naratriptan in patients with episodic migraine.