Overview
- Researchers matched roughly 11,000 people with chronic migraine starting GLP-1 receptor agonists to about 11,000 starting topiramate using health-records data.
- GLP-1 starters were about 10% less likely to visit the emergency department over one year and 14% less likely to be hospitalized.
- Use of additional migraine treatments fell in the GLP-1 group, including 48% lower initiation of valproate and 42% lower initiation of CGRP monoclonal antibodies, with roughly 13% fewer nerve blocks or triptan prescriptions.
- Authors emphasized the study is observational and cannot establish causation, noting unmeasured factors such as weight change, migraine severity, medication use patterns or lifestyle could influence results.
- Findings were released March 1 ahead of presentation at the American Academy of Neurology’s April 18–22 meeting in Chicago, with support from patient philanthropy and Miles for Migraine.