ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

  • Meetings
    • ACR Convergence 2024
    • ACR Convergence 2023
    • 2023 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • ACR Convergence 2022
    • ACR Convergence 2021
    • ACR Convergence 2020
    • 2020 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting
    • 2018-2009 Meetings
    • Download Abstracts
  • Keyword Index
  • Advanced Search
  • Your Favorites
    • Favorites
    • Login
    • View and print all favorites
    • Clear all your favorites
  • ACR Meetings

Abstract Number: 1214

All-Cause Mortality in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Using Pregabalin or Duloxetine: A Retrospective Cohort Study in US Veterans

Sachalee Campbell1, Laura L. Daniel2, Alyson L. Dickson3, Otis Wilson3, C. Michael Stein3, Puran Nepal4, Adriana M. Hung5 and Cecilia P. Chung2, 1University of Miami/ Jackson Health System, Miami, FL, 2University of Miami, Miami, FL, 3Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 4Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt, TN, 5Veterans Administration Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, TN

Meeting: ACR Convergence 2024

Keywords: Administrative Data, Autoinflammatory diseases, Drug toxicity, pain, Pharmacoepidemiology

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Session Information

Date: Sunday, November 17, 2024

Title: Pain in Rheumatic Disease Including Fibromyalgia Poster

Session Type: Poster Session B

Session Time: 10:30AM-12:30PM

Background/Purpose: Musculoskeletal pain affects more than 10% of the general population. Recent trends in managing chronic musculoskeletal pain have favored non-opioid analgesics, for example, pregabalin, an antiepileptic medication that has the risk of adverse effects like respiratory depression and congestive heart failure. This study aimed to compare the all-cause mortality between new users of pregabalin versus duloxetine (the comparator) in US Veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of US Veterans Health Administration patients, ages 18-89 years, with chronic non-cancer musculoskeletal pain who were new users of pregabalin or duloxetine between 2014 and 2022. We assembled the cohort using Veterans Administration Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI). We excluded veterans who were in long-term care or hospice, hospitalized for a month or more, and those with serious illness. The outcome was all-cause mortality which was obtained from vital status. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyze the outcome over time, utilizing inverse probability treatment weighting to adjust for differences between the users of pregabalin and duloxetine. One hundred and fifty-five covariates were used in propensity scores. The covariates were chosen based on literature review and knowledge from past studies. The covariate categories included chronic pain indicators, demographics, musculoskeletal diagnoses, cardiovascular diagnoses and medications, medical care utilization, other medications, and other comorbidities.

Results: This study included 26,700 new users of pregabalin and 152,862 new users of duloxetine. The cohort was predominantly male (83.1%) and of reported White race (69.7%). Their median age was 56 years. During the study period, there were 2017 deaths. The rate of all-cause mortality in pregabalin users was 17.43 per 1000 person-years and the rate for duloxetine users was 13.7 [unadjusted HR 1.29 (95% CI: 1.14-1.45)]. However, these differences became statistically non-significant after adjustment for covariates [HR 1.09 (95% CI: 0.95-1.25)].

Conclusion: In this retrospective cohort study of US Veterans ages 18-89 years who have chronic non-cancer musculoskeletal pain, there was no statistically significant difference in all-cause mortality between pregabalin and duloxetine.

Supporting image 1

Table 1: Selected baseline characteristics for new users of pregabalin or duloxetine. The table is weighted using inverse probability of treatment weighting.


Disclosures: S. Campbell: None; L. Daniel: None; A. Dickson: None; O. Wilson: None; C. Stein: None; P. Nepal: None; A. Hung: None; C. Chung: None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Campbell S, Daniel L, Dickson A, Wilson O, Stein C, Nepal P, Hung A, Chung C. All-Cause Mortality in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Using Pregabalin or Duloxetine: A Retrospective Cohort Study in US Veterans [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2024; 76 (suppl 9). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/all-cause-mortality-in-patients-with-chronic-musculoskeletal-pain-using-pregabalin-or-duloxetine-a-retrospective-cohort-study-in-us-veterans/. Accessed .
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

« Back to ACR Convergence 2024

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/all-cause-mortality-in-patients-with-chronic-musculoskeletal-pain-using-pregabalin-or-duloxetine-a-retrospective-cohort-study-in-us-veterans/

Advanced Search

Your Favorites

You can save and print a list of your favorite abstracts during your browser session by clicking the “Favorite” button at the bottom of any abstract. View your favorites »

All abstracts accepted to ACR Convergence are under media embargo once the ACR has notified presenters of their abstract’s acceptance. They may be presented at other meetings or published as manuscripts after this time but should not be discussed in non-scholarly venues or outlets. The following embargo policies are strictly enforced by the ACR.

Accepted abstracts are made available to the public online in advance of the meeting and are published in a special online supplement of our scientific journal, Arthritis & Rheumatology. Information contained in those abstracts may not be released until the abstracts appear online. In an exception to the media embargo, academic institutions, private organizations, and companies with products whose value may be influenced by information contained in an abstract may issue a press release to coincide with the availability of an ACR abstract on the ACR website. However, the ACR continues to require that information that goes beyond that contained in the abstract (e.g., discussion of the abstract done as part of editorial news coverage) is under media embargo until 10:00 AM ET on November 14, 2024. Journalists with access to embargoed information cannot release articles or editorial news coverage before this time. Editorial news coverage is considered original articles/videos developed by employed journalists to report facts, commentary, and subject matter expert quotes in a narrative form using a variety of sources (e.g., research, announcements, press releases, events, etc.).

Violation of this policy may result in the abstract being withdrawn from the meeting and other measures deemed appropriate. Authors are responsible for notifying colleagues, institutions, communications firms, and all other stakeholders related to the development or promotion of the abstract about this policy. If you have questions about the ACR abstract embargo policy, please contact ACR abstracts staff at [email protected].

Wiley

  • Online Journal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Permissions Policies
  • Cookie Preferences

© Copyright 2025 American College of Rheumatology