Monthly Archives: November 2020

Fibromyalgia: drug treatment in vain?

Journal Watch okt 2020
Evidence is insufficient to support most treatments for fibromyalgia, according to a meta-analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers examined data from over 220 randomized trials among nearly 30,000 people with fibromyalgia. High-quality evidence suggested a statistically significant benefit for cognitive behavioral therapy for improving pain in the short term. High-quality evidence also favored antidepressants and central nervous system depressants for improving pain in the medium term, antidepressants for improving quality of life (QOL) in the short term, and antidepressants and central nervous system depressants for improving QOL in the medium term.

However, none of these outcomes met the researchers’ criteria for a clinically important benefit. In addition, high- or moderate-quality evidence did not support any treatment for pain or QOL in the long term.

The researchers conclude, “Clinicians should be aware that current evidence for most of the available therapies for the management of fibromyalgia is limited to small trials of low methodological quality.”

Nighttime Measures of Blood Pressure Might Be a Good Predictor of Risk

From Journal Watch 3. nov 2020
Compared with participants whose BP declined during sleep (so-called dippers), those whose BP rose (“risers”) had higher risks at a mean follow-up of 4.5 years for heart failure and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events, independent of office or 24-hour measurements of systolic BP. Also, each 20 mm Hg elevation in nighttime systolic BP was associated with a 36% increase in risk for heart failure and a 21% increase in risk for cardiovascular events in analyses adjusting for demographic and clinical variables.