A MULTINATIONAL INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF SUBCUTANEOUS SUMATRIPTAN .2. HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE

The aim of this prospective sequential multinational (5 countries) stu dy was to concurrently evaluate the effects of subcutaneous sumatripta n on clinical parameters, health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) measu res, workplace productivity and patient satisfaction. This report pres ents the HRQOL results. 582 patients (aged 18 to 65 years) with modera te to severe migraine received their customary antimigraine therapy fo r 12 weeks and then subcutaneous sumatriptan for 24 weeks. The Short F orm-36 Health Survey and the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questio nnaire were completed at a screening visit (baseline). at the end of t he 12-week customary therapy phase, and at 12 and 24 weeks of the suma triptan phase. Scores for most of the Short Form-36 dimensions improve d significantly (p < 0.05) after 17 and 24 weeks of sumatriptan therap y compared with 12 weeks of customary therapy, in each country. Simila rly, scores on all Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire dim ensions were significantly (p < 0.05; paired t-test) improved after 12 weeks (in all countries) end 24 weeks (in 4 of 5 countries) of sumatr iptan therapy compared with 12 weeks of customary therapy. This study demonstrates that, in 5 countries, treatment of migraine attacks with subcutaneous sumatriptan compared with customary therapy was associate d with improvements in HRQOL, as measured by both general health statu s and disease-specific instruments.