The clinical study of antidepressant treatment of chronic pain by Venlafaxine
XU Chon-jin
ZHANG Xi-liang
ZHOU Qian-li
CHEN Yu-long
Abstract：Objective To evaluate the efficacy of venlafaxine on patients with chronic pain. Methods A total of 60 patients with chronic pain were randomized into venlafaxine group and control group. In venlafaxine group, 34 patients received oral venlafaxine 37.5 mg/day for 8 weeks. 26 patients receivedoral placebo. The criteria assessing the therapeutic efficacy on chronic pain and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD; 24 items) were used on the 4th and 8th weekend respectively. Results After 8 weeks of treatment, the efficacy rate on chronic pain was 70.6% in treatment group and 34.6% in control group respectively. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.01). HA M D scores (12.43 ± 6.43) of venlafaxine group were lower than that (24.79 ± 5.45) of control group (P < 0.01). Conclusion Venlafaxine is effective for the treatment of chronic pain with mild adverse effects and good tolerance.
Keywords：Chronic painVenlafaxineDepression
Publication Date：2009-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：2( 189-190 )