Agomelatine in the treatment of fibromyalgia: a 12-week, open-label, uncontrolled preliminary study.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate the efficacy of agomelatine (a melatonin receptor agonist) on depression, anxiety, cognition, and pain in drug-free fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients.
Results Summary
Agomelatine significantly improved depression, anxiety, and pain in FMS patients but had no significant impact on cognitive symptoms, though there was a trend toward improved performance. The treatment was well tolerated.
Population
15 drug-free female subjects with fibromyalgia syndrome.
Effective Dosage
25 mg/d (single daily dose).
Duration
12 weeks.
Interactions
None mentioned.
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
analgetic and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs | no change | fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) | patients with FMS | not very effective | are not very effective | #1 |
antidepressant drugs | decrease | pain | patients with FMS | positive response | produce positive response | #2 |
melatonin (3-6 mg/d) | decrease | pain, sleep, daytime fatigue, and depression | subjects affected from FMS | significantly effective | had significantly been effective | #3 |
agomelatine (25 mg/d) | decrease | depression | drug-free FMS patients | significantly improved | significantly improved | #4 |
agomelatine (25 mg/d) | decrease | anxiety | drug-free FMS patients | significantly improved | significantly improved | #5 |
agomelatine (25 mg/d) | decrease | pain | drug-free FMS patients | significantly improved | significantly improved | #6 |
agomelatine (25 mg/d) | no change | executive/cognitive symptoms | drug-free FMS patients | no significant impact | did not have a significant impact | #7 |
agomelatine (25 mg/d) | decrease | fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) | patients with FMS | effective and well tolerated | was effective and well tolerated | #8 |
Pharmacological therapy for fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is actually unsatisfactory; analgetic and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are not very effective. On the other hand, it is opportune to underline that antidepressant drugs produce positive response on pain in patients with FMS. Furthermore, many studies showed that using variable doses of melatonin (3-6 mg/d) in subjects affected from FMS had significantly been effective on pain, sleep, daytime fatigue, and depression. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of agomelatine on depression, anxiety, cognition, and pain in a sample of drug-free FMS patients. Agomelatine was administered at the single daily dose of 25 mg/d to 15 fibromyalgia "drug-free" female subjects during 12 weeks. Outcome measures included the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Visual Analog Scale of Pain, the Quality of Life Index, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Verbal Fluency Task-Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and the Stroop Color-Word Test. Treatment with agomelatine significantly improved depression, anxiety, and pain in patients with FMS. Regarding executive/cognitive symptoms, treatment with agomelatine did not have a significant impact on the explored neuropsychological domains, although there was a trend toward the improvement of performances. The findings showed that agomelatine was effective and well tolerated in patients with FMS. Further research is needed to fully evaluate the role of agomelatine as a potential pharmacological strategy for the treatment of FMS.