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MigrainePhase 3NCT02794441

Oral Dexamethasone for the Treatment of Acute Migraine Recurrence in the Pediatric Emergency Department

A Phase 3 study testing Dexamethasone in people with Migraine, run by Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario at 1 site in Canada.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Migraine recurrence is common amongst pediatric patients being discharged from the emergency department after treatment for migraine. Despite the commonality of migraine recurrence within the week following discharge, no known effective therapies are available in the pediatric population, though dexamethasone has been… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 8 to 18 years
Conditions the study is for
Migraine
What is being tested?
Dexamethasone
Type of treatment
Pill or oral medicine
Could I receive a placebo?
Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
How many people
12 participants
Where
1 siteCanada
Study dates
Dec 2016to 28 Jun 2017
Phase
Phase 3
Are there results?
Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 8 to 18 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult

Who may be able to join

  • Between the ages of 8 and 18 years (ie. > 8.0 years and < 18.0 years)
  • Diagnosed with migraine according to a modified version of International Classification of Headache Disorders 3rd edition (ICHD-3, beta version) where criterion A (ie. minimum of 5 prior episodes meeting criteria B-D) has been removed to increase sensitivity of diagnosis in the emergency department setting

Who cannot join

  • Received a dose of a steroid medication in the past 7 days
  • Known allergy to dexamethasone
  • Immunosuppressed
  • Cushing's syndrome
  • Known diabetes mellitus
  • Known peptic or duodenal ulcer or other major gastrointestinal illness (ex. ulcerative colitis)
Show all 12Show fewer
  • Known myasthenia gravis
  • Glaucoma
  • Febrile at triage
  • History of head trauma in the past 7 days
  • Presence of any known active infection (eg. on antibiotics or antivirals, diagnosed with active infection in the ED, etc)
  • Current secondary headache (as per the treating physician's clinical impression)

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Canada1 site
  • Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario

    Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8L1

Other trials in Canada

About this study

Official title: Oral Dexamethasone for the Treatment of Acute Migraine Recurrence in Pediatric Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Migraine: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Migraine recurrence is common amongst pediatric patients being discharged from the emergency department after treatment for migraine. Despite the commonality of migraine recurrence within the week following discharge, no known effective therapies are available in the pediatric population, though dexamethasone has been established as efficacious in the adult migraine population. The proposed study will randomly assign children and adolescents visiting the emergency department (ED) for migraine to receive either one dose of oral dexamethasone or oral placebo. Twenty patients will be recruited to this randomized, double-blind, pilot trial over a 6 month period, and the aim of the study will be to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the protocol.

Read the detailed description

Migraine is common in the pediatric emergency department. Unfortunately, somewhere between one third and two thirds of children and adolescents will have recurrence of their migraine within a week of discharge from the emergency department. Although there is strong evidence from adult studies that dexamethasone can prevent migraine recurrence, there is no evidence on how to prevent recurrence in children and adolescents. The proposed study will randomly assign children and adolescents visiting the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) emergency department (ED) for migraine to receive either one dose of oral dexamethasone or oral placebo. Twenty patients will be recruited to this randomized, double-blind, pilot trial over a 6 month period, and the aim of the study will be to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the protocol.

Patients will be recruited from the CHEO ED. Research volunteers will screen patients with a triage diagnosis of 'headache', 'migraine' or a related triage diagnosis for eligibility. Patients who meet eligibility criteria will be approached by a research assistant who will initiate the consent process. Informed consent will be sought through both verbal explanation and in written form, from participants 14 years and over and from the parent(s) or guardian(s). For participants under the age of 14 years, verbal and written assent will be sought.

Consenting participants will be randomized to receive one dose of oral dexamethasone 0.6mg/kg to a maximum of 15mg or one dose of oral matched placebo. Randomization will be stratified by baseline migraine duration: 1) less than 2 hours, 2) 2 hours to less than 24 hours and 3) 24 hours and greater. A list of randomization codes will be generated over the computer by a biostatistician and randomization will occur in blocks of four. Research personnel will not have access to the randomization code list with group assignments. Only the research pharmacists will have access to the list.

The research assistants will collect outcome data from the participants and store it into Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCaP), a secure, encrypted web-based platform. Participants will have the option of completing follow-up via email questionnaires or over the telephone. Follow-up will take place 48 hours and 7 days after discharge. The purpose of follow-up will be to assess whether or not participants had recurrence of their migraine, and to collect other follow-up outcome data and safety data. The research assistants, participants, research personnel and clinical personnel will all be blinded to group assignment. Only the research pharmacists, who will not interact with anyone in the study directly, will have access to group assignment information.

Data analyses will be carried out for exploratory purposes, and the groups (dexamethasone vs. placebo) will be compared with regards to: baseline data, 48 hour migraine recurrence rates, 7 day migraine recurrence rates, the proportion of participants achieving pain freedom at 2 hours and maintaining it at 48 hours, patient satisfaction data and adverse events.

Conditions
Migraine
Being tested
Dexamethasone, Placebo
Medical subject headings
Migraine Disorders

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • DexamethasoneDrug

    Dexamethasone 0.6mg/kg (maximum 15mg) PO x 1 dose

  • PlaceboOther

    Matched oral solution

Study groups in NCT02794441
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
DexamethasoneExperimentalDexamethasone 0.6mg/kg (maximum 15mg) PO x 1 dose
Receives: Drug: Dexamethasone
PlaceboPlacebo comparatorMatched oral solution in same volume per kg as dexamethasone
Receives: Other: Placebo

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Headache Recurrence at 48 Hours

    The primary outcome will be headache recurrence 48 hours after discharge from the ED. Headache recurrence will be defined as: for patients who were pain-free at ED discharge (ie. pain intensity of 0), any return of head pain (ie. pain intensity of 1 or greater) will be coded as a recurrence, and for patients who had persistent head pain at discharge, an increase in head pain since ED discharge will be coded as recurrence as well (ie. an increase in their score on the 4-point scale as compared to their score at ED discharge).

    Measured: 48 hours

Secondary outcomes (8)
  1. Pain Intensity

    Pain intensity will be measured on a 4 point rating scale as recommended by the International Headache Society guidelines: a) 0=none, b) 1=mild, c) 2= moderate, d) 4=severe. It will be assessed at 2 hours post-baseline, or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours and at the time of ED discharge where this exceeds 2 hours post-intervention. Because all participants were discharged prior to 2 hours, we report the pain intensity at the time of ED discharge.

    Measured: Baseline, 2 hours post-intervention (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours) and at the time of discharge from the Emergency Department (ED) if post-treatment ED duration extends beyond 2 hours (expected median duration = 3 hours)

  2. Persistent Pain Freedom

    Persistent pain freedom, defined as the proportion of patients in each group who achieved pain freedom at 2 hours (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours) and were free of pain without the use of rescue medication at 48 hours, will be assessed

    Measured: 2 hours post-intervention (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours) and 48 hours

  3. Patient Satisfaction

    Patient satisfaction will be assessed at the time of discharge from the ED and again at follow-up with the following 5-point Likert scale: 5=very satisfied, 4=satisfied, 3=neutral, 2=unsatisfied, 1=very unsatisfied. Here we report patient satisfaction rates at discharge.

    Measured: At the time of discharge from the ED (expected median duration in the ED post-treatment = 3 hours), at 48 hours and at 7 day follow-up

  4. Headache Recurrence at 7 Day Follow-up

    The proportion of patients in each group with recurrence within the 7 days following ED discharge will be assessed.

    Measured: 7 days

  5. Revisits Within 7 Days of Discharge From the ED

    The number of patients with return ED visits within 7 days of ED discharge will be assessed through chart review.

    Measured: 7 days

  6. Adverse Events at Discharge

    Adverse events will be queried at 2 hours (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours), at discharge and in the follow-up questionnaires at 48 hours and 7 days. Reported here are the adverse events at the time of ED discharge. All patients were discharged prior to the 2 hour time point. Adverse events reported at follow-up are reported elsewhere (see below).

    Measured: 2 hours post-intervention (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours), at the time of discharge from the Emergency Department (ED) if post-treatment ED duration extends beyond 2 hours (expected median duration = 3 hours), 48 hours and 7 days

  7. Adverse Events at 48 Hours Post-discharge

    Adverse events will be queried at 2 hours (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours), at discharge and in the follow-up questionnaires at 48 hours and 7 days. Reported here are the adverse events at the 48 hour follow-up post-discharge.

    Measured: 2 hours post-intervention (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours), at the time of discharge from the Emergency Department (ED) if post-treatment ED duration extends beyond 2 hours (expected median duration = 3 hours), 48 hours and 7 days

  8. Adverse Events at 7 Days Post-discharge

    Adverse events will be queried at 2 hours (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours), at discharge and in the follow-up questionnaires at 48 hours and 7 days. Reported here are the adverse events at the 7 day follow-up post-discharge.

    Measured: 2 hours post-intervention (or at the time of ED discharge if prior to 2 hours), at the time of discharge from the Emergency Department (ED) if post-treatment ED duration extends beyond 2 hours (expected median duration = 3 hours), 48 hours and 7 days

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted9 Jun 2016 (estimated)
  2. Study startDec 2016
  3. Primary completionJun 2017
  4. Study completion28 Jun 2017

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Quadruple blind
Who is masked
Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
12 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT02794441
Sponsor's protocol ID
20150453
Status last verified
Nov 2019
First submitted
25 May 2016
Last updated
3 Dec 2019
Data monitoring committee
Yes
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Tfelt-Hansen P, Pascual J, Ramadan N, Dahlof C, D'Amico D, Diener HC, Hansen JM, Lanteri-Minet M, Loder E, McCrory D, Plancade S, Schwedt T; International Headache Society Clinical Trials Subcommittee. Guidelines for controlled trials of drugs in migraine: third edition. A guide for investigators. Cephalalgia. 2012 Jan;32(1):6-38. doi: 10.1177/0333102411417901. No abstract available.

    PubMed 22384463
  • Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (IHS). The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (beta version). Cephalalgia. 2013 Jul;33(9):629-808. doi: 10.1177/0333102413485658. No abstract available.

    PubMed 23771276

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 3 study testing Dexamethasone in people with Migraine, run by Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario at 1 site in Canada.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 12 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 3 Dec 2019. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Canada. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 3 studies compare the treatment with the current standard treatment or a placebo in a large group, to confirm how well it works and watch for side effects.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 3 Dec 2019). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Headache Recurrence at 48 Hours (time frame: 48 hours). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02794441, which also lists 2 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 3 Dec 2019.

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