This week IHS has published its latest Position Statement: Early treatment in migraine – A call to shift prevention from attacks to disease progression.

In the past, preventive treatments were often delayed until migraine was perceived as substantially disabling, due to the limited efficacy and tolerability of available treatment options. However, there has been ongoing debate about whether preventive treatment should be started as soon as migraine manifests. With the availability of highly effective and well-tolerated treatments like anti-CGRP drugs, it is time to shift the mindset of patients, treating physicians, and health technology assessment (i.e. HTA) bodies and start treatment earlier with the hope of avoiding high-frequent and chronic migraine, both of which are highly disabling, burdensome and associated to high costs.

In this statement, we propose a migraine preventive strategy under the idea of shifting from reactive treatment once disability is established (prevention of attacks), to proactive, individualized prevention initiated early with safe, effective and tolerable therapies (prevention of disease progression). The final goal is to improve patient outcomes, promote excellent migraine care, enhance individual and social well-being, and, ultimately, prevent migraine progression and preserve brain health.

Read the guidelines here.

See all IHS Guidelines on the website Guidelines page.