GLP-1 drugs associated with reduced need for emergency care for migraine

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2026

Highlights:

For people with chronic migraine, starting GLP-1 drugs for conditions like diabetes may be associated with fewer emergency department visits. A preliminary study has found that people who started GLP-1 drugs were approximately 10% less likely than those who started topiramate to visit the emergency department over the following year. They were also about 14% less likely to be hospitalized for any reason during the year. This observational study does not prove that the drugs lower the need for emergency care for people with migraine. It only shows an association.  

MINNEAPOLIS — For people with chronic migraine, taking glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 drugs, for other conditions such as diabetes and weight loss, was associated with fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations overall, and with less need for medications used to stop and prevent migraine attacks, according to a preliminary study released March 1, 2026, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 78th Annual Meeting taking place April 18-22, 2026, in Chicago and online. The people with chronic migraine starting GLP-1 drugs were compared to people with chronic migraine who were starting topiramate, a drug commonly used to prevent migraine.

The study does not prove that GLP-1 drugs lower the need for emergency care and additional drugs for migraine; it only shows an association.

“People with chronic migraine often end up in the emergency room or they need to try several preventive medications before finding one that can work for them,” said study author Vitoria Acar, MD, of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. “Seeing these patterns of lower use of emergency care and lower use of drugs to stop migraines or trying additional drugs to prevent migraines among people taking GLP-1 drugs for other conditions suggests that these therapies may help stabilize the disease burden in ways that we haven’t fully appreciated yet.”

For the study, researchers analyzed a health-record database of people who had a chronic migraine diagnosis based on medical records.

Chronic migraine is defined by having a headache on 15 or more days per month for at least three months, where at least eight of those days include typical migraine symptoms like throbbing pain, nausea, or light sensitivity.

People who had started taking GLP-1 drugs for another condition within a year of a recorded diagnosis of chronic migraine were compared to people who started taking topiramate during that same period. The two groups were matched for factors such as age, body mass index, other health conditions, and prior migraine treatments.

There were about 11,000 people in each group. The GLP-1 drugs studied included liraglutide, semaglutide, dulaglutide, exenatide, lixisenatide and albiglutide.

The researchers used medical records to track what happened to both groups over the following year. This included overall emergency department visits, hospitalizations, nerve block procedures, and any new prescriptions for medications used to stop or prevent migraine attacks.

After accounting for differences in age, body weight, other health conditions, and prior migraine treatments, researchers found that 23.7% of people starting GLP-1 drugs visited the emergency department over the following year, compared with 26.4% of those starting topiramate. People starting GLP-1 drugs were about 10% less likely to have an emergency department visit, 14% less likely to be hospitalized, and about 13% less likely to undergo a nerve block procedure or receive a triptan prescription compared with those taking topiramate.

They were also less likely to be prescribed new preventive migraine medications. Compared with people starting topiramate, those starting GLP-1 drugs were 48% less likely to start valproate, 42% less likely to start calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibodies, 35% less likely to start tricyclic antidepressants, and 23% less likely to start the class of drugs called gepants.

There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the proportion of people starting beta blockers.

“Chronic migraine often overlaps with metabolic and inflammatory conditions such as obesity, insulin resistance, sleep apnea and depression, which can make treatment more difficult,” Acar said. “Early research is looking at whether GLP-1 drugs’ anti-inflammatory and neurovascular effects could play a role in migraine treatment, not just through weight loss.”

Because this was an observational study, it cannot prove that GLP-1 drugs caused the lower need for emergency care or additional medications. Even though the groups were matched at the start, researchers could not measure things that changed over the year, such as weight loss, migraine severity, medication use patterns or lifestyle changes. These unmeasured factors could also have played a role. Further studies are needed.

The study was supported by patient philanthropy and Miles for Migraine.

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