Evidence-based analysis of a migraine treatment drug comparison trial

Patients present with specific problems against a background of their particular situation. The applicability of a treatment to a specific case may be difficult to assess in the light of the information available on that treatment. Evidence-based medicine is a discipline developed to achieve the best informed treatment decisions in clinical situations. In this paper, we illustrate a logical approach to reaching a decision regarding which of two migraine treatments should be used in a clearly defined patient. The information evaluated is a comparative trial between sumatriptan (100 mg), rizatriptan (5 and 10 mg) and placebo. The use of the analytical tools of evidence-based medicine is demonstrated in this exercise. The example was chosen because this is an area of great current interest in the field of neurology.