The Paediatric Migraine Disability Assessment Score is a useful tool for evaluating prophylactic migraine treatment

AIMS: There is a need for an objective assessment scoring system to evaluate the effectiveness of prophylactic drugs in paediatric migraine and the aim of this study was to evaluate the Paediatric Migraine Disability Assessment score (PedMIDAS).

METHODS:
We recruited 88 children aged between six and 17-years-of-age with migraine. The 53 children in the treatment group were divided into three groups according to the prophylactic drug they received topiramate, flunarizine and propranolol and assessed using PedMIDAS before the start of treatment and three and six months after treatment. The 35 patients in the control group did not receive prophylactic treatment and were assessed with PedMIDAS on three occasions, three months apart.

RESULTS:
Topiramate, propranolol and flunarizine treatments significantly decreased PedMIDAS scores and were shown to be effective in improving the patients' quality of life. Topiramate and propranolol were more effective than flunarizine. The number of days on analgesic treatment significantly decreased in the patients who had received topiramate and propranolol treatments (p<0.05), but remained remained unchanged in the flunarizine prophylaxis group (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:
The PedMIDAS scoring system is useful in evaluating the efficacy of prophylactic therapy in paediatric migraine. Topiramate and propronalol lowered the PedMIDAS scores better than flurinazine