Clinical features and pharmacological treatment of migraine patients referred to headache specialists in Canada.

We set out to examine selected clinical characteristics of migraine patients referred to neurologists specializing in headache in Canada, and to document their pharmacological therapy both before and after consultation with the neurologist. Demographic, clinical and pharmacotherapy data were collected at the time of consultation for 606 patients referred to five headache clinics and who were given a migraine diagnosis by the neurologist. Data were analysed as part of the Canadian Headache Outpatient Registry and Database (CHORD) Project. The mean age of the migraine patients was 39.7 years; and 82.5% were female. The majority of patients suffered severe impact from their headaches. Prior to consultation, 48.7% were taking a triptan; after consultation, 97.2% were on a triptan. Before consultation, 30.9% were on a prophylactic drug; after consultation, 70.4% were. 20.8% of patients were medication overusers. Of these medication overusers, 42.4% were overusing an opiate, usually in combination with other analgesics; 21.6% were overusing a triptan. Medication changes made by the neurologists at consultation included a large increase in the use of both triptans and prophylactic medications. Medication overuse, particularly opiate overuse, remains a significant problem in patients with migraine in Canada.

Effect of exercise on the development of salt-induced hypertension in Dahl-S rats.

Male Dahl-S rats were randomly assigned to either normal chow (NC) or high-salt (HS) diets to induce hypertension. Animals were further subdivided into trained (NCT, HST) and untrained (NCN, HSN) groups. Trained groups were exercised on a rodent treadmill 5 days per week for 12 weeks at a constant workload of 26.4 m/min, 5% grade, while duration progressed from 7.5 to 115 min/day. Arterial blood pressure was measured under anaesthesia by direct catheterization of femoral arteries after 4 and 8 weeks, and terminally via the carotid artery. Training resulted in significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in trained groups compared with untrained. The trained animals also had significantly lower body weights. Analysis of regressed organ weights adjusted for differences in final body weight revealed that the NCT animals had heavier hearts and kidneys than the NCN animals. The HST animals had heavier hearts and lighter kidneys than the HSN animals.