Cephalalgia. 1998 Dec; 18(10): 704-8.

Feverfew as a preventive treatment for migraine: a systematic review.

Vogler BK, Pittler MH, Ernst E.

Department of Complementary Medicine, School of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, UK.

BACKGROUND: Feverfew is a popular herbal remedy advocated for the prevention of migraine. AIM: The aim of this systematic review was to look at the evidence for or against the clinical effectiveness of feverfew in migraine prevention. DATA SOURCES: Literature searches were performed using the following databases: Medline, Embase, Biosis, CISCOM, and the Cochrane Library (all from their inception to April 1998). STUDY SELECTION: Only randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials were included. DATA EXTRACTION: All articles were read by two independent reviewers. Data were extracted in a predefined, standardized fashion. The methodological quality of all trials was evaluated using the Jadad score. MAIN RESULTS: Five trials met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The majority favor feverfew over placebo. Yet important caveats exist. CONCLUSION: The clinical effectiveness of feverfew in the prevention of migraine has not been established beyond reasonable doubt.