Pain-related pharmacotherapy, healthcare resource use and costs in spinal cord injury patients prescribed pregabalin

Study design: Retrospective database analysis. Objectives: To describe comorbidities, pain-related pharmacotherapy, healthcare resource use and costs among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) newly prescribed pregabalin. Setting: United Kingdom (UK). Methods: Using The Health Improvement Network...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Spinal cord 2013-02, Vol.51 (2), p.126-133
Main Authors: Gore, M, Brix Finnerup, N, Sadosky, A, Tai, K-S, Cappelleri, J C, Mardekian, J, George Rice, C, Nieshoff, E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/1687/1825
692/699/375/1692
692/700/159
692/700/565/1436
Adult
Age
Analgesics - economics
Analgesics - therapeutic use
Anatomy
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Comorbidity
Computer programs
Data processing
Female
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - analogs & derivatives
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - economics
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - therapeutic use
Health Care Costs
Health Resources - economics
Human Physiology
Humans
Hypnotics
Inflammation
Male
Middle Aged
Neurochemistry
Neuropathy
Neuropsychology
Neurosciences
Opioids
original-article
Pregabalin
Sedatives
Spinal Cord Injuries - drug therapy
Spinal Cord Injuries - economics
Spinal Cord Injuries - epidemiology
Spinal cord injury
United Kingdom - epidemiology
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Summary:Study design: Retrospective database analysis. Objectives: To describe comorbidities, pain-related pharmacotherapy, healthcare resource use and costs among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) newly prescribed pregabalin. Setting: United Kingdom (UK). Methods: Using The Health Improvement Network database, SCI patients newly prescribed (index event) pregabalin ( N= 72; average age 48 years; 53% female) were selected. Study measures were evaluated during both the 9-months pre-index and follow-up periods. Results: Prevalent comorbidities included musculoskeletal disorders (51.4%), digestive disorders (23.6%) and urogenital disorders (20.8%). Opioids were the most frequently prescribed medications (pre-index, 58.3%; follow-up, 61.1%, P =not significant (NS)) followed by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugss (43.1 and 45.8%, P =NS). Use of anti-epileptics (other than pregabalin) recommended for SCI neuropathic pain decreased (25.0 vs 12.5%, P =0.0290), whereas sedative/hypnotic use (18.1 vs 26.4%, P =0.034) increased during follow-up. Over 50% of patients had visits to specialists, and at least 1 in every 10 had laboratory/radiology-related visits. There were numerical decreases in proportions of patients with emergency room visits (22.2 vs 13.9%, P =NS) and hospitalizations (16.7 vs 12.5%, P =NS) during follow-up. Medication costs were higher during follow-up (median, £561.4 vs £889.5, P
ISSN:1362-4393
1476-5624
DOI:10.1038/sc.2012.97