Oxygen Therapy May Reduce Cluster Headaches

Boston (DbTechNo) - Results of a new study suggest that oxygen therapy can ease symptoms of cluster headaches in people.

Cluster headaches are defined as severe, debilitating pains in the head and can occur multiple times on a daily basis.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, British researchers documented their findings of a study featureing cluster headache patients and either oxygen therapy via a mask, or a placebo.

78% of participants reported immediate relief when breathing in oxygen through an oxygen mask, meaning that the flow worked to reduce their headaches.

Adding to this positive study was the fact that in the high-oxygen group, no side effects were documented.

“To our knowledge, this is the first adequately powered trial of high-flow oxygen compared with placebo, and it confirms clinical experience and current guidelines that inhaled oxygen can be used as an acute attack therapy for episodic and chronic cluster headache,” wrote Anna S. Cohen, of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, and colleagues.