Recent Advances in the Management of Migraine in Older Patients

Although the prevalence of migraine tends to decrease in the fifth to sixth decades of life, there are still a significant number of patients > 65 years of age who experience migraine or have new-onset migraine. Because these older patients are often excluded from clinical trials, there are fewer evidence-based treatment guidelines for them. Migraine treatment in the older population requires careful consideration of changes in medication metabolism and increased medical comorbidities. Furthermore, older patients can present with an atypical migraine phenotype and have a higher rate of secondary headache, which may lead to a delay in diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Classic preventive treatments for migraine, including tricyclic antidepressants, antiepileptic drugs, and beta blockers, often have intolerable side effects. In addition, the presence of coronary artery disease, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease precludes the use of typical rescue medications such as triptans. As such, there has been a dire need for novel acute and preventive treatments for older adults. The purpose of this review is to provide an update on novel acute and preventive treatments for migraine in the older population. The advantages of these therapies include their efficacy, favorable side-effect profile, particularly in patients with atherosclerotic disease, as well as their tolerability.