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  • Patient-reported improvement in pain with pregabalin for painful diabetic neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia is promising but needs further investigation

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Commentary
Adult nursing
Patient-reported improvement in pain with pregabalin for painful diabetic neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia is promising but needs further investigation
  1. Felicia Cox
  1. Pain Management Service, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Ms Felicia Cox, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, Harefield UB9 6JH, UK; f.cox{at}rbht.nhs.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2019-103091

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    Commentary on: Derry S, Bell RF, Straube S, et al. Pregabalin for neuropathic pain in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019:CD007076. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007076.pub3.

    Implications for practice and research

    • There is moderate quality evidence that pregabalin is more effective than placebo for postherpetic neuralgia, painful diabetic neuropathy and post-traumatic neuropathic pain.

    • There is no evidence to support its use in HIV neuropathy nor central neuropathic pain.

    • Future studies require greater sample sizes and clearer methodology.

    • There is a need to identify patients who would benefit from pregabalin therapy.

    Context

    Pregabalin is licensed to treat neuropathic pain which is defined as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system.1 Neuropathic pain effects up to 10% of the population2 and includes postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN). The …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests I have acted as a speaker for Pfizer for which I have received payment.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.