A meta-analytic review of acceptance-based interventions for migraine.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions on migraine disability, medication use, and attack frequency.

Background: Acceptance-based approaches to headache management are those in which individuals learn to mitigate the influence of pain-related experiences on their general functioning without controlling pain itself. Treatment approaches include acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based practices. Both have shown promise in improving broad functioning and disability among individuals with headache. Despite a growing body of research examining acceptance-based interventions for headache broadly and migraine specifically, no meta-analytic review of ACT interventions for headache exists, and two meta-analytic reviews of mindfulness-based practices yielded conflicting results.

Methods: The present study aimed to systematically and quantitatively review the literature related to the efficacy of acceptance-based interventions among adults with migraine. A multi-database search (PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) identified clinical trials among individuals with migraine that compared structured ACT or mindfulness-based interventions to control treatment. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed using RevMan 5.4 meta-analytic software, and standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) quantified effect sizes on outcomes of disability, medication use, and headache frequency. Heterogeneity was quantified via I2 index and explored via subgroup analyses.

Results: Acceptance-based interventions yielded significant improvements in disability (SMD = -0.38, 95% CI = -0.56 to -0.20; I2 = 25%, p = 0.20) but not in medication use (SMD = -0.25, 95% CI: -0.57 to 0.06; I2 = 0%, p = 0.82) or headache frequency (SMD = -0.16, 95% CI = -0.37 to 0.05; I2 = 0%, p = 0.73).

Conclusion: Results suggest that acceptance-based interventions are effective in improving disability among adults with migraine and are a viable non-pharmacological treatment option, in addition to well-established behavioral migraine management approaches, for patients seeking functional improvement.