A Utilization Review of Patients That Respond to Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for Chronic Pain at a Single Institution

Abstract

Studies have demonstrated the benefits of LDN for various pain indications. This review describes the utilization of and response to LDN in patients with chronic pain within the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital (Madison VA). This was a retrospective, single center, chart review of patients that were prescribed LDN for chronic pain. The primary outcome, change in subjective pain report via numeric rating scale (NRS), was analyzed through Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and descriptive statistics. A total of 136 participants were included. Patients had an average pain score of 7.1 per NRS at baseline. At the initial follow up visit, participants had an average pain of 6.4 (p < 0.001). Additionally, 17.1% of patients had a greater than or equal to 30% pain reduction from baseline. At subsequent follow up, patients reported an average pain of 5.5 (p < 0.0001) per NRS. At the end of the study, 31.6% of patients were maintained on LDN at an average dose of 3.8 mg. This retrospective review demonstrated that LDN may be an effective modality for some chronic pain indications. Reported pain scores were significantly lower at initial follow up compared to baseline for the total population, and for patients with fibromyalgia (FM) specifically.

Keywords:

• Chronic pain
• fibromyalgia
• neuropathy
• veteran
• naltrexone

Disclosure statement

This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Madison VA and was exempt from review by the Madison VA Institutional Review Board and Research and Development Committee. This publication does not represent the views of the US Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government. Authors of this presentation have nothing to disclose concerning possible financial or personal relationships with commercial entities that may have a direct or indirect interest in the subject matter of this publication.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for the completion of this project or manuscript.