Tolerability and use in co-administration of pregabalin in affective patients: a 6-month prospective naturalistic study.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of the present study were to investigate the main demographic and clinical characteristics, comorbidity patterns, use in association and tolerability of pregabalin in a sample of patients with affective disorders, and to compare demographic and clinical variables of the groups divided, according to the treatment pregabalin was associated with.

METHODS

One hundred and fourteen consecutive outpatients, with anxiety and/or depressive disorders with or without comorbidity, were started on pregabalin, assessed and interviewed and their demographic data, associated therapy, tolerability and side effects collected over an observational period of 6 months.

RESULTS

The most frequent primary diagnoses were mood disorders (49.1%) and generalized anxiety disorder (21.9%). The most commonly associated treatments were antidepressants (66.7%) and mood stabilizers (15.8%). The most frequent side effects were sedation (3.4%), dizziness (0.9%), nausea (0.9%), diarrhea (0.9%), cough (0.9%) and peripheral edema (0.9%). When patients were divided according to the co-treatments, subgroups differed in terms of prescription of benzodiazepines (χ(2) = 15.25, df = 6, p = 0.013, phi = 0.37), with the most frequent use of these molecules in patients co-treated with tricyclic antidepressants and minor use in the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors group.

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in the co-administration of benzodiazepines might suggest a stronger anxiolytic effect when pregabalin is combined with specific psychotropic drugs (e.g., SSRIs).