Acetylsalicylic acid effervescent 1000 mg (Aspirin (R)) in acute migraine attacks; a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, single-dose, placebo-controlled parallel group study

In this multicentre, randomized, double-blind, single-dose study a total of 374 patients generally suffering from migraine attacks suitable for treatm ent with non-prescription drugs, received either oral acetylsalicylic acid effervescent 1000 mg (ASAE) or effervescent placebo for the treatment of an acute migraine attack. Of the 343 patients fulfilling the criteria for eff icacy analysis 169 patients took acetylsalicylic acid and 174 placebo. Resp onse rates (reduction of headache severity from severe or moderate to mild or no pain at 2 h after administration) were 55.0% for acetylsalicylic acid and 36.8% for placebo (P < 0.001). Twenty-nine percent of patients in the active treatment group were pain-free after 2 h compared with 16.7% in the placebo group (P = 0.007). No headache recurred within 24 h post-dose in 84 .6% of patients in the active group and in 85.1% of patients in the placebo group. Effervescent placebo reduced nausea and vomiting to the same degree as the active drug. Adverse events of acetylsalicylic acid (8.3%) were gen erally mild or moderate and comparable to those of placebo (2.9%). This stu dy shows that oral ASAE is safe and effective for the treatment of acute mi graine attacks.