Comparative effectiveness of Pregabalin given by fixed dose method and flexible dose method on treating central post-stroke pain / 临床神经病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the effectiveness of Pregabalin given by fixed dose method and flexible dose method on treating central post-stroke pain.Methods Patients with central post-stroke pain were consecutively enrolled and randomized into fixed group and flexible group.The patients in fixed group were given pregabalin 300 mg per day for 8 weeks.The patients in flexible group were given pregabalin as follows150 mg per day for 2 weeks, 300 mg per day for 2 weeks and 450 mg per day for 4 weeks.The primary outcome was numerical rating scale ( NRS) . The secondary outcomes included adverse effects, hospital anxiety and depression scales ( HADS ) and Athens insomnia scale ( AIS) .Results A total of 132 participants were enrolled with 65 in fixed group and 67 in flexible group from Jul 2009 to Dec 2014.Two patients in fixed group gave up the treatment while 7 patients gave up in flexible group though no significant difference was observed.Finally, 63 patients in fixed group and 60 patients in flexible group were included into analysis.There was no significant difference on gender, age, medical history between two groups. Compared with baseline, the NRS、HADS-A、HADS-D and AIS score were significantly decreased ( all P<0.05 ) .However, there was no significant difference of these scores between the two groups. Conclusion Two regimens of pregabalin showed the similar efficiency and safety to treat CPSP, however, fixed dose seemed to be more acceptable.