Current antimigraine therapy may include triptans, though their use may be limited by their cost and cardiovascular risk factors. As oxygen therapy has shown been shown to be effective for cluster headaches (CH), this study explored the effect of this therapy for the treatment of migraines.

Subjects were adult patients with migraines occurring at least once per month. The subjects were randomly assigned to use canisters containing either oxygen or medical air. They were instructed to use the canisters at the onset of a migraine, in a specified order, at a rate of 10-15 l/minute for 30 minutes. The primary endpoint analysis was a comparison of the mean change in pain scores from baseline to 30 minutes between groups. Secondary endpoints were the mean change in pain, nausea, and visual symptom scores from baseline to 15 and 60 minutes, and the percentage of attacks achieving symptom relief.

The changes in pain scores were not significantly different between groups at 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Of the secondary endpoints, the percentage of patients achieving a complete resolution of headache were higher among the oxygen group than the medical air group (24% versus 6%, P＝0.05). The proportion of attacks in which pain scores improved by ≥3 points, tended to be higher with oxygen (42% versus 23%, P＝0.08). Significant headache relief, defined as a final pain score 0-1 or an improvement by ≥3 points, was also higher in the oxygen group (45% versus 23%, P＝0.05).

This randomized, blinded, crossover pilot clinical trial of patients with migraine headaches suggests that oxygen therapy may be an effective treatment.