Saturday, May 3, 2008

Do antidepressants help patients with back pain?

That depends on which study you read and what kind of back pain you have.
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In a review of 10 studies on back pain and antidepressants published recently by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that reviews medical studies, Australian researchers found no clear evidence that antidepressants are more effective than sugar pills in helping patients with low-back pain. The finding is somewhat perplexing because, as the Australian researchers themselves noted, there is evidence that antidepressants can help with other types of chronic pain.

The researchers' findings also conflict with recent guidelines issued by the American Pain Society, which does recommend antidepressants for back pain, said Dr. Roger Chou, director of the guideline program. But he cautioned in an e-mail that antidepressants are not recommended as the "first line" treatment for low back pain partly because they can have side effects and partly because the benefit of antidepressants for back pain is "small to moderate."

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