Maprotiline in chronic tension headache: a double-blind cross-over study.

Compared maprotiline with placebo in the treatment of chronic tension headache in 30 16–52 yr old women with a history of headache for 1.5–20 yrs. Treatment periods were 6 wks long, and the daily dose of maprotiline increased in 2 wks from 25 to 75 mg. Effects of the treatment were measured by visual linear analog scale, verbal rating scale, number of days without headache, number of days needing additional analgesics, and the Ss' global impression of the treatment periods. In all these parameters maprotiline was superior to placebo, and the difference was statistically highly significant. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores improved slightly during both placebo and maprotiline, but the improvements were without statistical significance. Ss not or only slightly depressed according to BDI responded better to maprotiline than those more severely depressed. Side effects were frequent but mild and did not necessitate stopping the treatment. Results suggest that maprotiline is effective and useful in the treatment of chronic tension headache. (6 ref)