Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)

Question

Melatonin improves sleep quality and severity of headaches, when compared to baseline studies. It is a safe drug with minimal side effects and is well tolerated. This research will further highlight the potential of Melatonin for treatment of migraine headaches.

Method

A cross sectional study was performed on 120 participants in a hospital setting where the users and non-users of Melatonin were divided into groups of 60 each. A MIDAS (Migraine Disability Assessment Scale) questionnaire was used to assess the symptoms. To establish a correlation between different factors, the chi-square test and p-value were used. A null hypothesis was formulated with no association taken into account, and the chi-square and p-values were computed to find possible association between the considered factors. The confidence interval for p-value was taken at 95% with a 0.05 level of significance.

Results

It was found that there was a reduction in the intensity of pain and improvement in quality of sleep in the Melatonin user against the non-user cohort with an average age of 30, as evident from the results of chi square and p value of 7.5481 and 0.006007 for number of night time awakenings (relative risk reduction= 0.539 and number needed to treat= 4.291) and chi-square value of 36 and p-value of 0.00001 for intensity of pain reduction (relative risk reduction= 0.473, number needed to treat=1.897). The values for mean frequency headache reduction went down from 3.23±0.26 in the non-user cohort to 2.1±0.67 in the user cohort.

Conclusions

Migraine is a condition that causes recurring headaches with severity ranging from mild to moderate in intensity. It is a chronic, debilitating condition that reduces the quality of life. Melatonin has drawn attention for its anti-migraine action, owing to its structural similarity to Indomethacin and free-radical neutralizing property. Therefore, Melatonin can be a promising agent for treatment of migraine headaches.