Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Migraine Headache Attacks

Vitamin D supplementation could reduce headache attacks per month and headache days per month among migraine patients, according to a review published in the December issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Chen Hu, from the Chongqing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials exploring the effect of vitamin D for migraine patients. Data were included for six randomized controlled trials with 301 patients.

The researchers found that vitamin D supplementation could reduce headache attacks per month, headache days per month, and migraine disability assessment questionnaire scores (mean differences, −2.74, −1.56, and −5.72, respectively) compared with controls, but it had no obvious effect on attack duration or headache severity.

"Our analysis is based on only six randomized controlled trials, and all of them have relatively small patient samples," the authors write. "We need more randomized controlled trials with large patient [samples] to explore this issue."