The effects of sodium valproate with fish oil supplementation or alone in migraine prevention: A randomized single-blind clinical trial

Background: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)have beneficial effects on both specific and non-specificinflammatory reactions. The aim of this study was toevaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with fish oilin migraine prevention.Methods: A 12-week, randomized, single-blind clinical trialwas conducted from October 2008 to June 2009. A total of67 patients (52 women, 15 men) with migraine headachewere randomly allocated to 2 groups. In the first group, 38patients (30 females with a mean age of 35 ± 9 year)received 400 mg/day sodium valproate. In the secondgroup, 29 patients (22 females with a mean age of 36 ± 9years) received sodium valproate 400 mg daily plus fish oilsupplementation (180 mg). Response to the treatment wasassessed at 0, 1, 2, and 3 months after start of the therapy.Results: A significant decrease in duration, monthlyfrequency, and severity of headache after month 1, 2, and 3in comparison with month 0 occurred in both groups.There was a significant reduction in headache severity(P = 0.046) and frequency (P = 0.044) in the group withfish oil supplementation after month 1 in comparisonwith sodium valproate alone. In contrast, there was nosignificant difference between two treatment groups induration of the headache after month 1. Mean intensity,mean duration and mean frequency of the attacks aftermonth 2 and 3 were not significantly different betweenthe two groups.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that sodiumvalproate plus fish oil supplementation significantlyreduces migraine headache more than sodium valproatealone but only at the beginning of the treatment.