Curelator Headache Presents New Data Underscoring Misconceptions About Migraine Triggers And Protectors At American Headache Society Scientific Meeting (June 8-11)
Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 09, 2017 -- Curelator Headache™, the digital healthcare application pioneering "individualized trigger and protector mapping" for people with migraine, is presenting new data from ongoing studies in four posters at the 59th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society in Boston (June 8-11).
Out of the 488 individuals participating in three trigger association studies, 391 (80%) were classified as having episodic migraine and 97 (20%) with chronic migraine, meaning 15 or more attacks per month. The mean age was 43.0 years and the majority (90%) were female.
Overall, individuals each suspected between 3 and 44 different migraine triggers, with varying degrees of certainty. Of suspected self-reported triggers, on average only 2.7 (11.5%) per individual were shown to be statistically associated with migraine attack occurrence. A further 14.2 (61%) were shown to have no statistical association with attacks and for 5.1 (22%) there was not enough data to determine an association.
“Our study results show that people with migraine have great difficulty identifying their personal triggers and their suspicions may be overly influenced by beliefs popularized on the internet. Unfortunately, these misperceptions lead to a lower quality of life by people avoiding many things they love but without good scientific reason,” explains Alec Mian, CEO and founder of Curelator Inc.
The first study examined trigger suspicions in users with episodic vs. chronic migraine and revealed an unexpected disconnect between suspicions and scientific reality. Both groups suspected virtually the same set of triggers. However, after using Curelator Headache, which scientifically determines true risk factor associations, significant differences in triggers were revealed between episodic vs. chronic participants.
For example, Curelator analyzed associations of migraine attacks with tyramine, which was suspected as a risk factor by almost half of the individuals in the study. Tyramine is found in aged cheeses, pickled food, cured meat, soybean products, certain dried beans and overripe fruits, all of which are often avoided by people with migraine.
However, in a thorough analysis of tyramine intake, there was a very low statistical association with attacks (i.e., less than 10% with episodic migraine and less than 5% chronic migraine participants had a confirmed association). In an unexpected discovery, among the individuals who most strongly suspected tyramine as a trigger, tyramine was more commonly found to be associated with decreased risk (protectors) of migraine!
Dr. Mian adds, “These results suggest that if we condemn tyramine as a migraine trigger, we should point out that it potentially acts as a protector in a number of people.”
Curelator Headache will also be presenting new data on a fourth study with 477 participants on medication use and overuse patterns in people with migraine. Overall, potential overuse of acute medication was identified in 73 (29%) and 40 (19%) of US and UK patients, respectively.
The following posters are being presented in collaboration with leading headache specialists from Australia (Paul Martin, DPhil); the United Kingdom (Anne MacGregor MD, Peter J. Goadsby MD PhD); and the U.S. (Stephen Silberstein MD):
Comparison of self-reported triggers in individuals with episodic or chronic migraine
Stephen Donoghue PhD1, Gabriel Boucher BSc1, Francesc Peris PhD1, Alec Mian PhD1 and Paul R. Martin DPhil2
1Curelator Inc. Cambridge, MA, USA and 2School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
Self-reported triggers vs. those prospectively statistically determined in individuals with episodic and chronic migraine
Stephen Donoghue PhD1, Gabriel Boucher BSc1, Francesc Peris PhD1, Alec Mian PhD1 and Paul R. Martin DPhil2
1 Curelator Inc. Cambridge, MA, USA and 2School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
Tyramine as a risk factor for migraine attacks: an exploration
Stephen Donoghue PhD1, Gabriel Boucher BSc1, Francesc Peris PhD1, Alec Mian PhD1, Anne MacGregor MD2
1 Curelator Inc., Cambridge MA, USA and 2Barts and the London SMD, London, UK.
Medication use and overuse patterns in Curelator HeadacheTM US and UK users.
Pablo Prieto1, Gabriel Boucher1, and Stephen Donoghue1, Peter J. Goadsby2 and Stephen D. Silberstein3
1Curelator Inc. Cambridge, MA, USA, 2NIHR-Wellcome Trust King's Clinical Research Facility, King's College Hospital, London, UK, 3Jefferson Headache Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA
Study participants registered to use Curelator Headache via the Company’s website or the App store (iOS only) after physician referral or self-referral. They then used Curelator Headache daily for 90 days, entering details about headaches and tracking factors that may affect migraine attack occurrence. After 90 days all factors were analyzed for each individual.
About Curelator Inc.
Curelator is a patient-centric digital platform that enables patients, clinicians and healthcare providers to optimize individual therapeutic pathways in chronic diseases with episodic attacks.
Contact for further information: Sandy Bodner, sbodner(at)curelator(dot)com, 617-549-8523
Sandy Bodner, Curelator Inc, http://www.curelator.com, +1 (617) 549-8523, [email protected]
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