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The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Migraine and tension-type headaches impose a tremendous economic drain upon the healthcare system. Intravenous and oral niacin has been employed in the treatment of acute and chronic migraine and tension-type headaches, but its use has not become part of contemporary medicine, nor have t...

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Autores principales: Prousky, Jonathan, Seely, Dugald
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC548511/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15673472
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-4-3
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author Prousky, Jonathan
Seely, Dugald
author_facet Prousky, Jonathan
Seely, Dugald
author_sort Prousky, Jonathan
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Migraine and tension-type headaches impose a tremendous economic drain upon the healthcare system. Intravenous and oral niacin has been employed in the treatment of acute and chronic migraine and tension-type headaches, but its use has not become part of contemporary medicine, nor have there been randomized controlled trials further assessing this novel treatment. We aimed to systematically review the evidence of using intravenous and/or oral niacin as a treatment for migraine headaches, tension-type headaches, and for headaches of other etiologic types. METHODS: We searched English and non-English language articles in the following databases: MEDLINE (1966–February 2004), AMED (1995–February 2004) and Alt HealthWatch (1990–February 2004). RESULTS: Nine articles were found to meet the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Hypothetical reasons for niacin's effectiveness include its vasodilatory properties, and its ability to improve mitochondrial energy metabolism. Important side effects of niacin include flushing, nausea and fainting. CONCLUSION: Although niacin's mechanisms of action have not been substantiated from controlled clinical trials, this agent may have beneficial effects upon migraine and tension-type headaches. Adequately designed randomized trials are required to determine its clinical implications.
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spelling pubmed-5485112005-02-11 The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature Prousky, Jonathan Seely, Dugald Nutr J Review BACKGROUND: Migraine and tension-type headaches impose a tremendous economic drain upon the healthcare system. Intravenous and oral niacin has been employed in the treatment of acute and chronic migraine and tension-type headaches, but its use has not become part of contemporary medicine, nor have there been randomized controlled trials further assessing this novel treatment. We aimed to systematically review the evidence of using intravenous and/or oral niacin as a treatment for migraine headaches, tension-type headaches, and for headaches of other etiologic types. METHODS: We searched English and non-English language articles in the following databases: MEDLINE (1966–February 2004), AMED (1995–February 2004) and Alt HealthWatch (1990–February 2004). RESULTS: Nine articles were found to meet the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Hypothetical reasons for niacin's effectiveness include its vasodilatory properties, and its ability to improve mitochondrial energy metabolism. Important side effects of niacin include flushing, nausea and fainting. CONCLUSION: Although niacin's mechanisms of action have not been substantiated from controlled clinical trials, this agent may have beneficial effects upon migraine and tension-type headaches. Adequately designed randomized trials are required to determine its clinical implications. BioMed Central 2005-01-26 /pmc/articles/PMC548511/ /pubmed/15673472 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-4-3 Text en Copyright © 2005 Prousky and Seely; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Prousky, Jonathan
Seely, Dugald
The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
title The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
title_full The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
title_fullStr The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
title_full_unstemmed The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
title_short The treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
title_sort treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches with intravenous and oral niacin (nicotinic acid): systematic review of the literature
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC548511/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15673472
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-4-3
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