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This report describes the design, methods and clinical results of a prospective sequential multinational (5 countries) study conducted to evaluate the effects of subcutaneous sumatriptan on health-related quality of life, workplace productivity, clinical parameters and patient satisfaction. Adult patients with moderate to severe migraine initially received customary therapy for migraine episodes for 12 weeks, followed by 24 weeks' treatment with self-administered subcutaneous sumatriptan 6 mg. Demographic, baseline, health-related quality of life and patient satisfaction rating data were collected during visits to the clinic. Data relating to migraine symptoms, migraine therapy, work productivity and non-work activity time were collected on diary cards filled out by the patients. 749 patients were recruited to the study and 637 received at least 1 dose of sumatriptan. Overall, 75.5% of migraines were successfully treated within 2 hours with sumatriptan compared with 31.9% with customary therapy; 36% of patients reported complete relief at 2 hours with sumatriptan treatment compared with 1% of patients receiving customary therapy. 69% of patients successfully treated 70% of their migraines with sumatriptan within 2 hours, compared with 12% of patients with customary therapy. No serious adverse events were reported; 50% of patients reported an adverse event during the 12-week customary therapy phase and 89% of patients during the 24-week sumatriptan phase. These clinical results, which are consistent with those reported in randomised blinded studies of subcutaneous sumatriptan, suggest that relief of migraine symptoms occurs more often, and in less time, in patients receiving subcutaneous sumatriptan rather than customary therapy as their primary medication.

This report describes the patient satisfaction results from a prospective, sequential, multinational study. The study was conducted to concurrently evaluate the effects of sumatriptan, compared with customary therapy, on clinical parameters, health-related quality of life, productivity and patient satisfaction in adult patients with moderate to severe migraine. Patients treated migraine attacks for 12 weeks with their customary therapy, followed by 24 weeks' treatment with subcutaneous sumatriptan 6 mg. A questionnaire was conducted at the end of each study phase, or retrospectively at the end of the study, to assess patient satisfaction with customary therapy and sumatriptan. Sumatriptan was considered by most patients (67 to 85%) to be dependable and fast-acting, and to have a long duration of effect, allowing a quick return to normal activities. By comparison, 15 to 32% of patients considered that their customary therapy possessed the same attributes. However, customary therapy was considered to be easy/very easy to use by 82% of patients compared with 62% for subcutaneous sumatriptan. 89% of patients indicated that they would use sumatriptan again in the future. This study demonstrates that treatment of migraine attacks with subcutaneous sumatriptan for 24 weeks is associated with greater patient satisfaction as regards specific drug attributes than customary therapy.

This report presents the workplace productivity and non-workplace activity results of a multinational study of the effects of subcutaneous sumatriptan 6 mg in the acute treatment of migraine compared with patient's customary therapy. Patients diagnosed with migraine treated their symptoms for 24 weeks with subcutaneous sumatriptan after a 12-week period of treating symptoms with their customary (non-sumatriptan) therapy. Patients used diary cards to record information concerning the effects of migraine on workplace productivity and non-workplace activity time. The average workplace productivity time lost was 23.4 hours per patient during 12 weeks of customary therapy, compared with 7.2 and 5.8 hours per patient during the first and second 12-week periods of sumatriptan therapy, respectively. An average of 9.3 hours of non-workplace activity time was lost per patient during the customary therapy phase, compared with 3.2 and 2.8 hours during the first and second 12-week periods of sumatriptan therapy, respectively. Treatment of migraine with subcutaneous sumatriptan compared with customary therapy was associated with an average gain per patient of approximately 16 hours of workplace productivity time and 6 hours of non-workplace activity time, over a 3-month period.

Quality of life is often considered to equate how the medical treatment is subjectively perceived by the patient, but ought to include the total impact of the disease/treatment on the patient's emotional, physical, and social well-being. Recently, a proposal for a generally applicable definition of quality of life in health care was put forward. This definition includes general well-being, health, and welfare (external factors), as three fundamental components, and the definition is based on both objective and subjective judgments. General well-being is exclusively an expression of the individual's subjective experience and is based on his or her own qualitative evaluation of well-being in relation to condition, treatments, and experiences. Health is according to the proposed definition, judged both objectively (signs) and subjectively (symptoms). Apart from health and well-being, there is also reason to include objectively registrable factors at the welfare level (external factors) such as the consumption of medicines, number of days in hospital, length of sick leave, need of in-home care, etc. This review is an attempt to elucidate the effects of antihypertensive pharmacotherapy on the patient's general well-being. The topic will be discussed from several points of views (e.g., aims of antihypertensive treatment, occurrence of symptoms in the population, compliance with prescribed treatment, symptom inventories, the concept of quality of life).