Assessment of quality of life in patients with trigeminal neuralgia receiving pregabalin as add-on therapy to carbamazepine

Background: Trigeminal neuralgia significantly affects patients’ quality of life due to recurrent, severe pain. This study aimed to compare the quality of life in patients with trigeminal neuralgia receiving pregabalin as add-on therapy to carbamazepine. Methods: A prospective, open-label, randomized comparative study was conducted on 50 patients from November 2015 to September 2016. The patients were divided into two groups (n=25 each) and treated for 12 weeks. Group I received carbamazepine 200 mg/day, titrated up to 1000 mg/day, while Group II received pregabalin 75 mg OD plus carbamazepine 200 mg/day, with pregabalin titrated up to 300 mg/day. Quality of life was assessed using PDI at weeks 4, 8 and 12. Results: Intragroup analysis showed a statistically significant reduction in mean PDI scores (p<0.05) from baseline at 4, 8, and 12 weeks in both groups, indicating improved quality of life. Intergroup analysis showed no significant difference at 4 weeks (p=0.15), whereas pregabalin added to carbamazepine produced significantly better quality of life at 8 and 12 weeks (p<0.05). Conclusions: Present study suggested that pregabalin as an add on therapy was found to cause significant improvement in quality of life & reduction in pain scoring at 8th and 12th weeks.