Prophylactic Therapy Response in Children with Abdominal Migraine: A Single Centre Experience in Oman

Abdominal migraine (AM) is a very common functional gastrointestinal disorder in children. This study reports the clinical features and response of AM to prophylactic treatment in children.

This retrospective study was conducted between January 2010 and December 2019 at the Royal Hospital in the Sultanate of Oman. This study included children aged ≤ 13 years with a diagnosis of AM based on the Rome IV criteria for functional diagnoses. Clinical, demographic, and treatment data were collected.

Seventy-four children were identified, of which 43 were eligible for inclusion in this study. The median age at the onset of symptoms was 7 years (range, 2-12 years). The most frequent symptoms were headache (81.4%), nausea (79.1%), and vomiting (72.1%). Of the total cohort, 46.5%, 23.3%, and 6.9% received riboflavin, pizotifen, and propranolol monotherapy, respectively. Combination therapy was also used; 16.3% of children received pizotifen and propranolol, 4.7% received riboflavin and pizotifen, and 2.3% received riboflavin and propranolol. Patients treated with propranolol monotherapy showed 100% clinical improvement and those treated with riboflavin or pizotifen monotherapy showed 90% clinical improvement. Response to combination therapy with pizotifen and propranolol was 71.4%, and with riboflavin and pizotifen was 100%. In addition, treatment response was significantly associated with the presence of vomiting (p=0.039).

We found a favorable response to various modalities and combination treatments with riboflavin, pizotifen, and propranolol in children with AM. In addition, the presence of vomiting may predict treatment response.