Subcutaneous sumatriptan in the clinical setting: the first 50 consecutive patients with acute migraine in a pediatric neurology office practice.

An open prospective study was undertaken to assess the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous sumatriptan in 50 consecutive children ages 6 to 18 years with severe migraine. There were 28 females and 22 males. The dose of sumatriptan was 0.06 mg/kg. Parameters included overall efficacy, time to relief, recurrence rate, adverse events, and objective global rating. Overall efficacy, defined by headache reduction from severe or moderate to mild or none, was 78%. Twenty-six percent responded within 30 minutes, 46% responded in 60 minutes, and 6% responded between 1 to 2 hours. Twenty-two percent had no response or a suboptimal response. Recurrence rate was only 6%. There was a difference in efficacy between male and female, as 91% of the males responded, while only 68% of the females responded. The males had more migraine alone while the females had migraine often with a coexistent tension-type headache. Eighty percent of all the patients had some adverse event which was usually mild and transient; however, one patient developed a transitory confusional state which resolved in 2 hours. Eighty-four percent reported a global rating of good to excellent, while 16% rated the treatment only fair to poor. These findings suggest that subcutaneous sumatriptan can be both effective and safe in childhood migraine, especially in dealing with migraine alone.