Can atorvastatin with sodium valproate reduce migraine?

Adding atorvastatin to the prophylactic regimen for patients with migraine with aura may help reduce the number of acute attacks and pain, wrote the authors of a recent study published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences. They also found that the combination won’t lead to considerable adverse effects for patients.  

In the triple-blind controlled clinical trial, 68 patients with migraine with aura were randomly assigned to receive atorvastatin 20 mg plus sodium valproate 500 mg or placebo plus sodium valproate 500 mg once a day for 2 months. In patients with vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation was accounted for and provided.  

Researchers found that adding atorvastatin in a preventive regimen for migraines with aura was associated with a responder rate of 65% during the 2 months of study and a mean reduction of three migraine attacks per month. 

Treatment with atorvastatin at this dose was associated with significant improvement in pain severity. Using a visual analog scale, the researchers found that the mean score of pain severity for participants during the trial period was 5.87 in the placebo group and 3.27 in the intervention group, and that atorvastatin reduced the frequency of migraine attacks compared with placebo.  

The researchers also noted that patient satisfaction, as an indicator of quality care, was significantly higher in the intervention group.  

More than 90% of people experience at least one headache attack per year, and migraine is the most common type of chronic headache.