Objective: This study aimed to compare the effect of heat and cold therapy on the intensity of nitroglycerine induced migraine type headache in cardiac inpatients.
Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on a total of 75 cardiac inpatients in three groups design (heat or cold therapy,and control group) as pre-test and post-test. Patients in the intervention group received heat or cold therapy for25 minutes, two times (at 1-hour interval), Patients in the control group did not receive any heat or cold therapy. Headache intensity was measured by the numeric rating scale for pain (NRS Pain), in three groups of study for 3 times (just before the study, at the end of applying the first therapy, and at the end of applying the second therapy).
Results: No baseline differences existed among the three groups for the mean pain scale score (P=0.781) just before the study; but the difference between three groups after applying heat and cold therapy was statistically significant (p=0.000).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated applying heat and cold therapy may reduce the intensity of nitrate induced migraine type headache in cardiac inpatients. Considering this fact that approximately 10% of patients cannot tolerate nitrate therapies due to unbearable headache, applying heat or cold therapy in patients with nitrate induced migraine type headache is recommended to improve patient's adherence to treatment.