The purpose of this open-label study was to compare rizatriptan with usual non-triptan therapy for migraine in patients who had never received a triptan. Patient-reported outcomes were examined for a prestudy migraine attack and after three consecutive study attacks, the first and third treated with rizatriptan 10 mg wafer and the second with usual non-triptan therapy. A total of 97 patients (83% women; mean age 39 years) completed the study. Two-thirds of patients reported severe or total disability during migraine attacks. All comparisons between rizatriptan therapy and usual non-triptan therapy significantly favoured rizatriptan (p < or = 0.01). Headache relief by 2 hours was reported by 78-83% of patients after rizatriptan and by 46-48% of patients after usual therapy; 41-47% and 12-18%, respectively, were pain free at 2 hours. Patient satisfaction and migraine-specific quality-of-life scores were also significantly better for attacks treated with rizatriptan. At study end, 62% and 17% of patients were very or completely satisfied with rizatriptan and usual non-triptan therapy, respectively. Among those patients who worked for pay, therapy with rizatriptan significantly reduced absenteeism and improved the amount and quality of time at work compared with usual non-triptan therapy. Allowing patients to have experience with rizatriptan may improve the level of medical care for migraine attacks.