Evaluation of migraineurs' preferences for naratriptan over conventional first-line agents

Objective: To assess patient satisfaction with and preference for naratript an hydrochloride therapy over previous "nontriptan" therapy for migraines. Design and Setting: Open-label study conducted at 15 primary care clinics. Patients: One hundred forty-three adults meeting International Headache Soc iety diagnostic criteria for migraine who were not using triptans as first- line therapy for migraines were enrolled; 115 completed the study. I Intervention and Outcome Assessments: At baseline, satisfaction with curren t migraine therapy was assessed. Patients were provided with naratriptan hy drochloride, 2.5 mg, to treat 3 migraines and diaries to record headache sy mptoms and response to treatment. After treating 3 migraines, satisfaction with naratriptan therapy and preference for either previous or naratriptan therapy were assessed. Results: Eighty-nine (62%) of 143 patients had previous exposure to triptan s, with lack of prescribing (55%) as the primary reason for not continuing their use as first-line therapy. Medications used for first-line therapy in cluded simple analgesics (59%), combination products (46%), and narcotics ( 13%). After treating 3 migraines with naratriptan, satisfaction with migrai ne therapy increased from 47% to 75%. Sixty-three percent of patients prefe rred naratriptan therapy over their previous nontriptan therapy, 27% prefer red their previous therapy, and 10% had no preference. The main reasons for preference for naratriptan therapy were "relieves pain effectively" (86%) and "restores ability to function/perform task" (81%). Conclusion: Naratriptan for first-line migraine therapy was preferred by mo st patients over previous nontriptan therapy.