Sex Differences in Treatment Response and Patient Preference in Gepant Users: A Real-World Survey Study from a Tertiary Headache Center
Areeba Nisar1, Shreya Ghosh3, Victor Wang1, Suraj Malhan1, Claire Ceriani1, Nicole Spare1, Michael Marmura1, Hsiangkuo Yuan2
1Thomas Jefferson Univeristy Hospital, 2Department of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson Univeristy Hospital, 3Sidney Kimmel Medical College
Objective:

To evaluate sex-based differences in gepant response for acute and preventive headache treatment in a tertiary care setting.

Background:

Real-world data regarding treatment response based on sex remains limited.

Design/Methods:
A HIPAA-compliant REDcap survey was distributed electronically via email to all patients prescribed any gepants upto July 2024 at a tertiary care hospital. The survey assessed gepant usage characteristics, acute and preventive treatment effectiveness, patient preferences, and demographic data. Data was filtered to include only patients who completed the survey.
Results:

Of 3545 survey invites, 478 responses were completed (13.5%, age 49.9±14.5 years, 413 (86.4%) females, and 429 (89.7%) Caucasian). Patient preference between rimegepant and ubrogepant did not differ between sexes for acute use (n=166, p=0.502). Similarly, no preference difference was seen for preventive rimegepant and atogepant (n=31, p=0.191). For acute treatment responses, male and female rimegepant users reported similar consistency (out of 100%) across all measures (2-hour pain reduction: 75.5±21.3 vs. 72.5±20.9 and resumption of activity in 2 hours: 77.0±18.8 vs. 70.6±22.0). Similar results were seen in male and female ubrogepant users (2-hour pain reduction: 62.5±25.0 vs. 69.2±23.7; resumption of activity in 2 hours: 66.2±22.7 vs. 67.1±24.9). For preventive treatment, similar responses were seen in both sexes for moderate (<50%) or significant (≥50%) reduction in monthly headache days between both rimegepant (male 80% (4/5) vs female 73.9% (17/23)) and atogepant (male 80% (8/10) vs female 75.4% (49/65)). No differences between sexes were observed for other measures, including average headache intensity, daily function affected, and rescue medication usage days. 


Conclusions:

Gepant acute (rimegepant vs ubrogepant) and preventive (rimegepant vs atogepant) responses appear similar between sexes according to this real-world survey at a tertiary headache center. Further research is needed to understand the sex-based differences in gepant use response. 

10.1212/WNL.0000000000212293
Disclaimer: Abstracts were not reviewed by Neurology® and do not reflect the views of Neurology® editors or staff.