United States: Medical experts indicate antidepressant medications demonstrate limited effectiveness for sciatica combined with low back pain even though doctors prescribe them widely.
Research experts indicate that examinations into antidepressant prescriptions for this application need to study both positive and negative consequences.
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Doctors prescribe antidepressants most commonly to treat low back pain yet reserve medical prescriptions until patients fail to achieve pain relief through other available methods.
Different international guidelines on antidepressant therapy show no agreement regarding the most effective antidepressant medication, thus creating conflicting prescriptions, newatlas.com reported.
The research team at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) conducted a review of past studies to evaluate the advantages and side effects of antidepressant medication use for treating non-specific LBP together with spine-related leg pain or sciatica.
According to the lead and corresponding author Michael Ferraro, a doctoral candidate at the Center for Pain IMPACT, NeuRA, and the School of Health Sciences, UNSW, “Low back pain has been the leading cause of disability worldwide for the past 30 years.”
“Many people with low back pain also have pain that radiates down their leg, often leading to greater pain and disability. Antidepressants are commonly prescribed for low back pain and sciatica, despite conflicting recommendations from international clinical guidelines,” as Ferraro noted.
The study analyzed 2,932 participants utilizing 26 randomized controlled trials that enrolled people with non-specific LBP in 18 studies and spine-related leg pain in seven studies and one study covering both conditions.
Study details
The study participants were aged between 27 and 59 and faced continuous pain for longer than three months.
Moreover, “We found that serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor medicines probably reduce pain within three to four months, but on average, the effects are probably too small to be important, and many patients wouldn’t be able to feel any difference in their pain compared to taking a sugar pill,” Ferraro noted.
“They also come with an increased risk of unwanted side effects,” the expert continued.
The researchers discovered that tricyclic antidepressants might have a minor positive effect on physical capacity while showing no evidence of lowering LBP pain severity.
The researchers maintained moderate confidence about SNRIs and TCA effectiveness since the examined studies did not fully reveal the necessary data.
The researchers showed minimal belief in available information regarding the treatment effectiveness of all antidepressants for sciatica purposes.