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The Effectiveness and Safety of Topical Capsaicin in Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Citation
Yong, YL and Tan, LT-H and Ming, LC and Chan, K-G and Lee, L-H and Goh, B-H and Khan, TM, The Effectiveness and Safety of Topical Capsaicin in Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Frontiers in Pharmacology, 7 Article 538. ISSN 1663-9812 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2017 the authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. it is reproduced with permission.
DOI: doi:10.3389/fphar.2016.00538
Abstract
In particular, neuropathic pain is a major form of chronic pain. This type of pain results
from dysfunction or lesions in the central and peripheral nervous system. Capsaicin
has been traditionally utilized as a medicine to remedy pain. However, the effectiveness
and safety of this practice is still elusive. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to
investigate the effect of topical capsaicin as a pain-relieving agent that is frequently used
in pain management. In brief, all the double-blinded, randomized placebo- or vehiclecontrolled
trials that were published in English addressing postherpetic neuralgia were
included. Meta-analysis was performed using Revman
R
version 5.3. Upon application
of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only six trials fulfilled all the criteria and were
included in the review for qualitative analysis. The difference in mean percentage change
in numeric pain rating scale score ranges from −31 to −4.3. This demonstrated high
efficacy of topical capsaicin application and implies that capsaicin could result in pain
reduction. Furthermore, meta-analysis was performed on five of the included studies.
All the results of studies are in favor of the treatment using capsaicin. The incidence of
side effects from using topical capsaicin is consistently higher in all included studies,
but the significance of safety data cannot be quantified due to a lack of p-values in
the original studies. Nevertheless, topical capsaicin is a promising treatment option
for specific patient groups or certain neuropathic pain conditions such as postherpetic
neuralgia.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | pain, postherpetic neuralgia, topical agent, capsaicin, Capsicum |
| Research Division: | Medical and Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences |
| Research Field: | Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Health and Support Services |
| Objective Field: | Health Education and Promotion |
| Author: | Ming, LC (Dr Long Ming) |
| ID Code: | 114077 |
| Year Published: | 2017 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 2 |
| Deposited By: | Pharmacy |
| Deposited On: | 2017-02-04 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-01-04 |
| Downloads: | 19 View Download Statistics |
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