Role of acetazolamide in treatment of the patients with diagnosis of menstrual migraine

Introduction: Migraine triggers in women include menstrual cycle and hormonal changes. According to ICHD-3 criteria, menstrual migraine (MM) is divided in two groups as pure menstrual migraine (PMM) and menstrual-related migraine (MRM). The present study aimed to evaluate and compare severity of headache using visual analog scale (VAS) and effects on quality of life using Headache Impact Test (HIT) and Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) tests before and after (on 3 months) treatment in both groups of patients using acetazolamide for short-term prophylaxis of migraine. Methods: The patients presenting to Headache out-patient clinic of Neurology Department of Medical Faculty Celal Bayar University with diagnosis of MM were retrospectively reviewed based on inclusion and exclusion criteria after taking approval from the Ethics Committee. Demographic characteristics, habits, and features of headache were queried. As shMean-term prophylactic treatment, acetazolamide was given at dose of 500 mg daily for 5 days from the time two days before predicted onset of the menstrual cycle. VAS, MIDAS, and HIT tests were performed before and after treatment. Findings: A total of 26 patients with PMM and 26 patients with MRM were detected. In overall and group-level comparisons before and after treatment in the patients using acetazolamide, statistically significant improvement was found (p < 0.05) in MIDAS score in both groups of patients with the difference being more prominent in the MRM group but there was no significant difference in VAS and HIT scores between the groups Conclusions: Using acetazolamide for short-term prophylaxis in the patients with diagnosis of MM leads to decreased severity and frequency of headache and improvement in quality of life. Our study was emphasized in the literature for the first time.