■■ Results
Search Results
Searches returned a total of 1,254 articles, of which 788 were
found to be unique. Abstracts were reviewed for 96 studies
that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, of which 48 were
subsequently excluded because of incomplete or missing discontinuation
data. The absence of data was, in part, caused by
a number of crossover studies, especially among propranolol
RCTs, that did not report discontinuation rates in the study
results. A further 4 studies were available only in Spanish
(n = 1), Portuguese (n = 1), or German (n = 2); 6 reported data on
patients included in other studies (open-label extension studies
or post hoc analyses); 2 examined relapse after discontinuing
the study medication; and 3 were expert opinion. Included
studies (N = 33) are shown in Table 1, which lists observational
studies that examined adherence and persistence, and Table 2,
which lists the RCTs of the 3 prophylactic medications and the
rate of discontinuation reported in each study