Sumatriptan injection and tablets in clinical practice: results of a survey of 707 migraineurs

This report from the Gothenburg Migraine Clinic in Sweden describes the results of a telephone survey of over 700 patients using open-label sumatriptan tablets or sumatriptan injection for the treatment of migraine. The information is based on the patients' cumulative experience of more than 76,000 subcutaneous injections, 56,000 tablets 100 mg, and 20,000 tablets 50 mg. The results demonstrate that sumatriptan tablets were preferred by a greater proportion of patients than sumatriptan injection. However, sumatriptan injection was perceived as the most effective dosing form by the greatest proportion of patients. Among patients who found sumatriptan injection to be the most effective dosing form, the most frequently cited reasons were efficacy and speed of action. Among patients who found sumatriptan tablets to be the most effective dosing form, the most frequently cited reasons were fewer side effects and lack of experience with other dosing forms. Approximately half of sumatriptan users indicated that sumatriptan use was associated with decreases in the numbers of days with migraine, days at work with migraine, and days off work/normal activities due to migraine. When they worked during a migraine attack, patients estimated that they were 76% effective after taking sumatriptan compared with 47% effective with other medications and 49% effective with no medication. In general, side effects were reported less frequently among sumatriptan tablet users compared with injection users. Asked to compare sumatriptan with the best migraine treatment that they had used before, 94% of patients indicated that sumatriptan was better or much better than their previous therapies. These data provide important information from the clinical practice setting to complement the data from sumatriptan clinical trials.