PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Oliver Enke AU - Heather A. New AU - Charles H. New AU - Stephanie Mathieson AU - Andrew J. McLachlan AU - Jane Latimer AU - Christopher G. Maher AU - C.-W. Christine Lin TI - Anticonvulsants in the treatment of low back pain and lumbar radicular pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis AID - 10.1503/cmaj.171333 DP - 2018 Jul 03 TA - Canadian Medical Association Journal PG - E786--E793 VI - 190 IP - 26 4099 - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/190/26/E786.short 4100 - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/190/26/E786.full SO - CMAJ2018 Jul 03; 190 AB - BACKGROUND: The use of anticonvulsants (e.g., gabapentin, pregabalin) to treat low back pain has increased substantially in recent years despite limited supporting evidence. We aimed to determine the efficacy and tolerability of anticonvulsants in the treatment of low back pain and lumbar radicular pain compared with placebo.METHODS: A search was conducted in 5 databases for studies comparing an anticonvulsant to placebo in patients with nonspecific low back pain, sciatica or neurogenic claudication of any duration. The outcomes were self-reported pain, disability and adverse events. Risk of bias was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale, and quality of evidence was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Data were pooled and treatment effects were quantified using mean differences for continuous and risk ratios for dichotomous outcomes.RESULTS: Nine trials compared topiramate, gabapentin or pregabalin to placebo in 859 unique participants. Fourteen of 15 comparisons found anticonvulsants were not effective to reduce pain or disability in low back pain or lumbar radicular pain; for example, there was high-quality evidence of no effect of gabapentinoids versus placebo on chronic low back pain in the short term (pooled mean difference [MD] −0.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] −0.8 to 0.7) or for lumbar radicular pain in the immediate term (pooled MD −0.1, 95% CI −0.7 to 0.5). The lack of efficacy is accompanied by increased risk of adverse events from use of gabapentinoids, for which the level of evidence is high.INTERPRETATION: There is moderate- to high-quality evidence that anticonvulsants are ineffective for treatment of low back pain or lumbar radicular pain. There is high-quality evidence that gabapentinoids have a higher risk for adverse events.Protocol registration: PROSPERO-CRD42016046363