Petadolex® Butterbur Extract May Help Children and Adolescents with Migraines
Breaking News 5/2/05
By
VRP Staff
A Butterbur extract known as Petadolex may help children and teenagers who suffer from severe migraines, researchers recently reported in the journal Headache.
In the past, two randomized and placebo-controlled adult trials with a total of 289 migraine patients demonstrated that butterbur root extract is safe and effective in the reduction of migraine attacks. In the current study, researchers sought to determine whether butterbur also could provide some benefits to children and teenagers with migraines.
The recent study was conducted in five pediatric clinics and 13 medical practices and included a total of 108 subjects. The open-label study included 29 children (ages 6-9 years) and 79 adolescents (10-17 years) who had suffered from migraines for at least 1 year. Depending on age, patients were treated with 50 to 150 mg of the butterbur root extract known as Petadolex for 4 months. Treatment progression was recorded in migraine journals especially designed for children and adolescents.
The number of migraine attacks in children and adolescents were substantially reduced by the use of the butterbur root extract. After 4 months of treatment, the rate of attacks fell from 9.4 to 4.0 in the 6-9 year olds treated with butterbur and 9.7 to 5.8 in the butterbur-treated 10-17 year olds. Ninety-one percent of patients reported they felt substantially or at least slightly improved after taking the herbal extract for the length of the study. The butterbur extract was very well tolerated with belching the most commonly reported adverse effect in 7.4 percent of the subjects. No side effects led to early termination of the study.
According to the study authors, “The results and low rate of adverse events in this open prospective migraine prevention study in children and adolescents are similar to the results of two multicenter placebo-controlled butterbur studies in adults. Butterbur root extract shows a potential as an effective and well-tolerated migraine prophylaxis also for children and teenagers.”
Reference:
Pothmann R, Danesch U. Migraine prevention in children and adolescents: results of an open study with a special butterbur root extract. Headache. 2005 Mar;45(3):196-203.
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