The effect of Pregabalin on sleep quality of patients treated with methadone maintenance therapy: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

ABSTRACT

Background

Because of the higher risk of drug use, especially benzodiazepines, treating sleep disorders in patients, undergoing Methadone Maintenance Therapy, is one of the daily challenges of addiction therapists. Pregabalin is an antiepileptic drug that is used for insomnia and neuropathic pain. It seems that pregabalin has a lower risk of dependency than benzodiazepines.

Methods

A total of 107 patients participated in this study. Participants randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received 75 mg of pregabalin and the control group received placebo over 8 weeks. The main instruments of the study were the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Demographic Questionnaire to collect data on the sleep quality of the MMT patients.

Results

Sleep duration and sleep efficiency significantly improved in the pregabalin group compared to the placebo group but in other scales of sleep quality, no significant difference is found between the two groups.

Conclusion

The current study used a low dose of pregabalin for treating sleep disturbances in patients being treated with methadone, however; it is suggested that future studies may use higher doses of pregabalin (e.g., 150 and 300 mg) for enhancing the different components of sleep quality as well as overall sleep quality.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregabalin
• sleep quality
• methadone
• maintenance therapy

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge with grateful appreciation the kind assistance and financial support provided by the Vice Chancellor for Research at the North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences. The authors also would like to thank all of the addiction treatment clinics that assistance in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).