Efficacy of feverfew versus placebo or dihydroergotamine in treatment of migraines.

Objectives: Migraine is the second most common cause of headaches. There are several methods in treatment of migraine including herbal medicine. Tanacetumparthenium (feverfew), a kind of chrysanthemum is traditionally used for treatment of headaches. The aim of this research was to assess the effect of feverfew in treatment of migraine. Materials and Methods: This is a double blinded clinical trial with patient observation for eight months. 168 participants were enrolled in three groups: feverfew, placebo and dihydroergotamine. Participants with migraines more frequent than three times a month were included in our research. Severity and frequency of headache and kind of the prescribed drug were the investigated variables in this study. Results: 155 of 168 participants (92.26%) completed the three month study protocol. After 15 days, 40 people (75.5%) in the feverfew group, 28 people (60.9%) in the placebo group and 49 people (89.1%) in dihydroergotamine group were well or better than before treatment. After 45 and 105 days these percentages showed an increase but there was no significant difference between treatment periods. After medication, we observed a statistically significant reduction in these groups, compared to baseline, for number of migraine headaches, migraine days and headache severity. Although assessment of efficacy showed that dihydroergotamine and feverfew groups were better than placebo, only the difference between dihydroergotamine and placebo groups was significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: feverfew is as effective as dihydroergotamine. Therefore, in some conditions like hypertension, feverfew is a good alternative for migraine treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]