BACKGROUND: Approximately two-thirds of patients with depression experience physical pain symptoms. Coexisting pain complicates the treatment of depression and is associated with worse depression outcomes.
OBJECTIVE: The authors reviewed the effect of newer antidepressants on pain in patients with depression.
METHOD: The authors searched systematically for trials of second-generation antidepressants that enrolled depression patients and reported pain outcomes, pooling changes on the pain visual-analog scale (VAS), using random-effects models.
RESULTS: Eight trials were eligible. Pooled analysis of head-to-head trials showed no difference in VAS between duloxetine and paroxetine. Both drugs were superior to placebo.
CONCLUSION: The authors found insufficient evidence to support the choice of one second-generation antidepressant over another in patients with pain accompanying depression.
