ABSTRACT
Background: Central mediated abdominal pain syndrome (CAPS) related functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) is a commonly seen disease. Although the efficacy of antidepressants in treatment of CAPS has been reported, yet there is still lack of typical representative drugs and sufficient clinical data. Aims: To evaluate the efficacy of duloxetine in CAPS. Methods: A total of 143 patients with CAPS from Jan. 2017 to Dec. 2019 at Qingdao Municipal Hospital were enrolled and randomly divided into duloxetine group and placebo group. Brief pain inventory (BPI) was used to evaluate the efficacy. Results: Compared with placebo group, duloxetine significantly improved the average pain, the most painful in the past 24 hours, as well as the minimum pain and present pain in the patients with CAPS, and the impact on daily life, emotion, interest in life, walking ability, sleep, interpersonal relationship, working was significantly improved in duloxetine group. 6.8% of patients in duloxetine group had treatment-induced adverse events, including nausea, dry mouth, constipation, and headache. Conclusions: Duloxetine can improve CAPS, and the safety in use is well.