[Studies on the predictive factors of treatment success in combination headache.]

Sixty-five patients (51 women, 14 men), who were 41.9 years on average, suffered from combination headache (migraine and tension headache) and were under therapy with propranolol and amitriptyline-N-oxide. The following predictive factors were tested with regard to the success of therapy: age, sex, duration of the migraine and tension headache illness, and frequency of use of analgesic and ergotamine preparations. The prerequisite was a statistically valid classification of responders and non-responders. Responders were defined as patients with at least 50% reduction in their symptomatic parameters (duration and frequency of migraine attacks or tension headaches between the beginning (t(0)) and end of the 3-month treatment (t(3)). Both the migraine treatment and the tension headache were standardized and headache records were kept. The statistical procedure used permitted clear differentiation between responders and non-responders, but these predictive factors did not make it possible to distinguish a subgroup of potential responders.