Zonisamide another option for reducing migraine attacks in children, suggests study

For children and teens living with migraine, there may be a new preventive treatment, according to a preliminary study released today, February 26, 2025, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 77th Annual Meeting taking place April 5–9, 2025, in San Diego and online. Researchers found the drug zonisamide, which has been used to treat seizures, may reduce migraine days in this age group. This study does not prove that zonisamide reduces migraine days; it only shows an association.

“Migraine disease is debilitating and can lead to kids having to miss school and other activities,” said author Anisa Kelley, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “Currently, there is only one FDA-approved migraine preventative medication for this age group. Our results are encouraging, showing zonisamide may be another option for reducing migraine attacks.”

For the study, researchers reviewed health records at one institution. They identified 256 children and teens who had been diagnosed with migraine and prescribed preventative zonisamide. Of these participants, 28% had difficult-to-treat migraine, which was defined as having migraine disease unsuccessfully treated with two or more previous medications. Researchers documented the number of headache days per month for each participant both before and after starting zonisamide.