Trial reportThe journal of headache and pain2012
Nabilone for the treatment of medication overuse headache: results of a preliminary double-blind, active-controlled, randomized trial.
Trial report in The journal of headache and pain, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy and safety of different pharmacological therapies to medication overuse headache: a network meta-analysis.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Pooled it
- Medical cannabinoids: a pharmacology-based systematic review and meta-analysis for all relevant medical indications.BMC medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Analgesic Effects of Cannabinoids for Chronic Non-cancer Pain: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with Meta-Regression.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2020Pooled it
- Cannabinoids for the treatment of mental disorders and symptoms of mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of cannabinoid administration for pain: A meta-analysis and meta-regression.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Cannabinoids for the Treatment of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain: An Updated Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2015Pooled it
- Endocannabinoid system modulation in acute, chronic, and neuropathic pain: reviewing experimental models, clinical evidence, and nanotechnology delivery.Metabolic brain disease · 2026Review
- Endocannabinoid Modulation in Headache: Mechanisms, Models, and Translational Therapies.Cells · 2026Review
- Cannabidiol for Orofacial and Upper-Quarter Pain: A Systematic Evaluation of Therapeutic Potential.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Cannabinoids in Chronic Pain Management: A Review of the History, Efficacy, Applications, and Risks.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Natural Products Derived from Cannabis sativa for Pain Management.Handbook of experimental pharmacology · 2025Review
- Interplay between cannabinoids and the neuroimmune system in migraine.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Review
- [Cannabis use and cannabis use disorders].Der Nervenarzt · 2024Review
- Psychotropic Drugs Reemerging as Headache Medicines.CNS drugs · 2024Article
- Review
- Medication-overuse headache: a narrative review.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Review
- Article
- Tetrahydrocannabinol and Cannabidiol for Pain Treatment-An Update on the Evidence.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Cannabinoids and the Endocannabinoid System in Early SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Long COVID-19-A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Looking Back, Moving Forward in Pain Medicine.Cureus · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a severe burden to sufferers and its treatment has few evidence-based indications. The aim of this study is to evaluate efficacy and safety of nabilone in reducing pain and frequency of headache, the number of analgesic intake and in increasing the quality of life on patients with long-standing intractable MOH. Thirty MOH patients were enrolled at the University of Modena's Interdepartmental Centre for Research on Headache and Drug Abuse (Italy) in a randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, crossover study comparing nabilone 0.5 mg/day and ibuprofen 400 mg. The patients received each treatment orally for 8 weeks (before nabilone and then ibuprofen or vice versa), with 1 week wash-out between them. Randomization and allocation (ratio 1:1) were carried out by an independent pharmacy through a central computer system. Participants, care givers, and those assessing the outcomes were blinded to treatment sequence. Twenty-six subjects completed the study. Improvements from baseline were observed with both treatments. However, nabilone was more effective than ibuprofen in reducing pain intensity and daily analgesic intake (p < 0.05); moreover, nabilone was the only drug able to reduce the level of medication dependence (-41 %, p < 0.01) and to improve the quality of life (p < 0.05). Side effects were uncommon, mild and disappeared when nabilone was discontinued. This is the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating the benefits of nabilone on headache, analgesic consumption and the quality of life in patients with intractable MOH. This drug also appears to be safe and well-tolerated. Larger scale studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.