Sertraline Versus Pregabalin in Treatment of Pruritus in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Single-center Prospective, Cross-over Study

Background and Objective: Uremic Pruritus (UP) is a distressing symptom occurring in end-stage renal dialysis patients. It compromises overall life quality. Pregabalin and sertraline can effectively ameliorate UP. The aim of the study is to investigate which medication is more effective in treatment of UP in patients receiving hemodialysis. Methodology: This is an 11 week long randomized, prospective and cross-over study. Patients were randomly assigned to either sertraline 50 mg daily or pregabalin 75 mg daily. After 4 weeks of treatment, another 3 weeks were passed without treatment for drug washout then cross-over was performed and patients received the another drug for 4 weeks. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate pruritus at each weeks visit and adverse effects of study drugs reported by the patients were registered. Baseline laboratory data and demographic characteristics were recorded from patient charts. Results: Twenty one (12 males and 9 females) patients completed the study. Mean age was 48.8614.18 years. Pregabalin improved pruritus more significantly than sertraline as percent of decline in VAS score after pregabalin treatment (67.1612.46%) was significantly more than that for sertraline (22.2518.49%) and reported side effects with pregabalin were less than that of sertraline. Conclusion: Pregabalin significantly improves UP more than sertraline with fewer side effects.