Butalbital-containing agents: should they be banned? No.
Butalbital compounds are of proven efficacy in the treatment of tension headache. Decades of experience have established their value in the treatment of other mild-to-moderate headaches. Untold numbers of people rely on these medications as their drug of choice or use them when vasoconstrictors, opioids, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents are contraindicated. The medications are cost-effective with only occasional and minor immediate adverse effects. Their overuse may cause the evolution of episodic primary headaches to chronic daily headaches; however, removal of these agents from the market would reduce the chronic daily headache in the general population by a small fraction of 1%.
Solomon
Seymour
S
Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, USA. sysol@earthlink.net
D001463:Barbiturates / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D018781:Tension-Type Headache / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics
D001463:Barbiturates; C004470:butalbital