Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Single use of sumatriptan: a patient interview study.

H Rahimtoola¹, H Buurma, C C Tijssen

¹Department of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacotherapy, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Netherlands.

|February 1, 2003

Summary

Many sumatriptan users stop after one prescription due to side effects or inefficacy. This suggests issues in migraine management and a tendency to avoid medical care.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Definitions, measurement, and reporting of progression-free survival in randomized clinical trials and observational studies of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer treated with immunotherapy: a scoping review.

ESMO real world data and digital oncology·2026

Same author

Uncertainties about the benefit-risk balance of oncology medicines assessed by the European Medicines Agency.

ESMO open·2024

Same author

Busulfan Exposure Target Attainment in Adults Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Single Day Versus a Multiple Day Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Regimen.

Transplantation and cellular therapy·2024

Same author

Hospital physicians' and older patients' agreement with individualised STOPP/START-based medication optimisation recommendations in a clinical trial setting.

European geriatric medicine·2022

Same author

[Reducing medication waste; a challenge for care providers and society].

Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde·2020

Same author

Associations between personality traits and adequate home storage of drugs in older patients.

Psychology, health & medicine·2019

Area of Science:

Neurology
Pharmacology
Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

Sumatriptan is a common migraine medication.
Approximately 40% of sumatriptan users fill only one prescription.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate reasons for single prescription use of sumatriptan.
To identify patient and medication factors associated with single prescription use.

Main Methods:

Analysis of prescription data from 11 community pharmacies (May 1998-April 2000).
Identification of single and multiple sumatriptan prescription recipients.
Interviews with single recipients regarding clinical status and medication experience.

Main Results:

38% of new sumatriptan users were single recipients.

Related Experiment Videos

Primary reasons for discontinuation: inefficacy/side effects (78%), uncertain migraine diagnosis (39.2%), reduced headache frequency (33.3%).

Many patients did not consult physicians and used over-the-counter analgesics post-sumatriptan; single recipients were less likely to use other migraine treatments and more likely to use benzodiazepines prior to sumatriptan.

Conclusions:

Single sumatriptan prescription use indicates potential issues in migraine management, including treatment dissatisfaction and reduced healthcare seeking.
Sumatriptan may be inappropriately used as a diagnostic tool.