Efficacy and Safety of Duloxetine for Pain in Fibromyalgia in Adults

Objective: To assess efficacy and safety of Duloxetine for pain in adult patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia in our tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Medicine and Rheumatology Department, Pak Emirates Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan from Oct 2021 to Jun 2022. Methodology: 500 patients of fibromyalgia diagnosed by consultant medical specialist or rheumatologist were included in the study. They were divided into two Groups. Group A received routine analgesics as per local protocol while Group B received Duloxetine in standard dose. Patients were evaluated with Brief pain inventory at the time of diagnosis and at end of two week of treatment for resolution of pain symptoms. Adverse effects experienced by patients were also recorded with in these two weeks. Results Out of five hundred patients randomized into two Groups, 257(51.4%) were categorized into Group A (routine analgesics) and 253(48.6%) were categorized into Group B (Duloxetine). 390(78.0%) were female while 110(22.0%) were male. Mean age of patients put who were diagnosed with fibromyalgia in our study was 39.84 ±7.96 years. Patients who received Duloxetine had better response in pain symptoms as compared to those who took routine analgesics (p-value-0.001). No significant difference was observed in adverse effects in both the Groups (p-value>0.005). Conclusion Patients of fibromyalgia who were managed with Duloxetine had better response to pain symptoms after two weeks as compared to patients managed with routine analgesics. No significant difference was found in adverse effect profile of patients in both the Groups.