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Duloxetine May Alleviate Both Pain and General Anxiety Disorder: Presented at AAPM

By Jerry Ingram

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- February 12, 2007 -- Duloxetine appears to offer pain relief for patients with both general anxiety disorder (GAD) and painful physical symptoms, according to research presented here at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 23^rd Annual Meeting (AAPM).

"We wanted to look at patients with general anxiety disorder as well as pain. What we found is that patients presenting with anxiety also presented with pain," explained study author Andrea Collier-Johnson, PharmD, medical liaison, Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, Indiana.

For this investigation researchers pooled and analyzed data from 2 randomized, double-blind studies. In the first study, clinicians assigned 168 patients to duloxetine 60 mg per day, 170 patients to duloxetine 120 mg per day, and 175 to placebo. They carried out the study for 9 weeks.

The second study was a 10-week investigation that included a flexible-dose approach with patients in the duloxetine group (n = 168) receiving between 60 and 120 mg per day and 159 patients in the placebo group.

The Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), the Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) for pain and the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) were used as primary and secondary measures of efficacy.

Results show that patients in the duloxetine group reported significantly greater improvements in anxiety symptoms (HAMA total score) compared with patients receiving placebo (P = .017), and on patient functioning as determined with the SDS (P < .001).

Patients also experienced improvement in function in the areas of work and school (P = .001), social life (P < .001), and management of family and home life (P < .001).

Patients in the duloxetine group also experienced significantly greater improvements compared with placebo-treated patients on 5 of 6 VAS pain items, the researchers reported.

"Overall, we concluded from these 2 studies that patients with generalized anxiety disorder treated with duloxetine did very well, improving their lives as well as decreasing their level of pain," Dr. Collier-Johnson concluded.


[Presentation title: Efficacy of Duloxetine in the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Patients With Clinically Significant Painful Physical Symptoms. Poster 112]

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