A study of the impact of medication on children’s migraine headaches, co-led by the UI's Christopher Coffey, has been named one of the leading developments in neuroscience in 2017 by the journal Neurology Today.

The paper, “Trial of amitriptyline, topiramate, and placebo for pediatric migraine,” was honored by the journal’s editors as a Best Advance of 2017, a label designed to recognize studies that shed light on developments that are both incremental and transformational in advancing science. Coffey, professor in the College of Public Health and director of the Clinical Trials Statistical Data Management Center, was a co-author of the paper and oversaw the gathering and analysis of data.

The paper was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. It found that 328 17-year-olds suffering from migraines saw no improvement in their condition, whether they were given amitriptyline, topiramate, or a placebo.

“The best medication approach to childhood headache has not been proven,” the editors wrote, based on the study’s conclusion.

The study’s lead investigators were Scott Powers and Andrew Hershey from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.