Study results published in the journal Headache suggest that people who took Arcoxia (etoricoxib) before fasting for 25 hours on the Yom Kippur holiday got fewer headaches than those who didn't, as reported Monday in CNBC.

 

"Religious fasting is associated with headache," noted lead researcher Michael Drescher, adding that "this has been documented as the 'Yom Kippur headache' and 'first of Ramadan headache.'"

 

To see how Arcoxia would work during Ramadan, researchers assigned 222 adults planning to fast in 2010 to either take the drug or placebo just before the start of fasting each day.

 

During the first day of fasting, 21 percent of people taking Arcoxia reported having a headache, compared to 46 percent of those who took placebo.

 

The Arcoxia group also reported fewer total headaches during that first week, the researchers wrote, and when they did have headaches, they rated them as less severe than participants taking the placebo.

 

The study was funded by Merck & Co., which makes the drug.