Amitriptyline, Pregabalin and Duloxetine for Treatment of Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy.

Background: Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the frequent presenting complaints in diabetes and endocrine clinics. Our main objective was to compare effectiveness of three commonly prescribed drugs: amitriptyline, pregabalin and duloxetine for treatment of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Methods: This was a comparative, prospective, observational study conducted among 99 diabetic patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy having numeric rating pain scale ≥ 4. Thirty-three patients in each group were consecutively prescribed amitriptyline, pregabalin and duloxetine in lower dose (10mg/75mg/20mg) for first two weeks to gradually up titrate to higher dose (25mg/150mg/30mg) as per pain response for total duration of eight weeks.

Results: At the end of eight weeks, 84.9% in amitriptyline, 78.7% in pregabalin and 60.6% in duloxetine group had adequate pain reduction in form of mild or no pain. Among total patients, 42.5% patients had severe pain at baseline that decreased to 5% by the end of our study. Out of three drugs, 45.5% patients in amitriptyline group had complete resolution of pain as compared to 24.2% in pregabalin and 18.2% in duloxetine group (p value 0.05). Drowsiness (42.4%), dizziness (21.2%) and dry mouth (21.2%) were the commonest side effects among total participants in our study.

Conclusions: Amitriptyline, pregabalin and duloxetine were all associated with adequate pain reduction among patients of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy in our study, however, amitriptyline had more favorable findings with tolerable side effects.