Sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg: efficacy, tolerance and quality of life in migraine patients.

The primary objective of this prospective, open, non controlled, multicente r study was to collect data on migraine patients' health related quality of life before and after treatment of their migraine attacks by sumatriptan n asal spray 20 mg over a 12 week period. The impact on health related qualit y of life was evaluated by the mean change from pre-treatment scores french migraine health related quality of life specific questionnaire (QVM). A to tal of 219 patients have been included in the study, whose migraine attacks were not usually relieved by first line therapy A statistically significan t improvement in health related quality of life las measured by the global score and the four scores related to the four dimensions of the QVM questio nnaire (functional, psychological, social and therapeutic) were observed co mpared to the pre-treatment score values. At the end of the treatment perio d, 60% of patients preferred sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg to their usual t reatment. Headache relief was reported 2 hours after administration in 66% of attacks treated by sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg during the study period and pain free in 46% of treated attacks. The nature and incidence of adver se events were similar to these observed in previous studies performed with sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg and no unexpected events were reported. Conc lusion: Those data suggest for the first time that the use of sumatriptan n asal spray 20 mg for the treatment of migraine attacks during a 12 week per iod may be associated with a significant improvement in migraine patients' quality of life. The clinical efficacy and tolerability results observed in this study are similar to those from controlled studies previously publish ed with sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg.