Pain
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Multicenter Study
Is all pain is treated equally? A multicenter evaluation of acute pain care by age.
Pain is highly prevalent in health care settings; however, disparities continue to exist in pain care treatment. Few studies have investigated if differences exist based on patient-related characteristics associated with aging. The objective of this study was to determine if there are differences in acute pain care for older vs younger patients. ⋯ When evaluating pain treatment and final pain scores, differences appeared to be based on type of pain. Older patients with abdominal pain were less likely to receive pain medications, while older patients with fracture were more likely to receive analgesics and opioids compared to younger patients. Differences in pain care for older patients appear to be driven by the type of presenting pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Efficacy of memantine in the treatment of fibromyalgia: a double-blind randomised controlled trial with 6-month follow-up.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a prevalent and disabling chronic disease. Recent studies have found elevated levels of glutamate in several brain regions, leading to hypotheses about the usefulness of glutamate-blocking drugs such as memantine in the treatment of FM. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of memantine in the treatment of pain and other clinical variables (global function, clinical impression, depression, anxiety, quality of life) in FM patients. ⋯ Compared with placebo, the absolute risk reduction obtained with memantine was 16.13% (95% confidence interval=2.0% to 32.6%), and the number needed to treat was 6.2 (95% confidence interval=3 to 47). Tolerance was good, with dizziness (8 patients) and headache (4 patients) being the most frequent side effects of memantine. Although additional studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up times are needed, this study provides preliminary evidence of the utility of memantine for the treatment of FM.