This site is intended for UK healthcare professionals
Medscape UK Univadis Logo
Medscape UK Univadis Logo
Clinical Summary

Low back and neck pain: ibuprofen plus caffeine vs ibuprofen alone

Takeaway

  • This study suggests that fixed-dose ibuprofen plus caffeine was not superior to ibuprofen alone or placebo in reducing acute lower back or neck pain.

Why this matters

  • Due to the available evidence supporting caffeine as an analgesic adjuvant in combination with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, it was thought that a combination of ibuprofen and caffeine could be more effective than single-agent ibuprofen for lower back or neck pain

Study design

  • 635 patients with acute lower back/neck pain with pain on movement (POM) ≥5 on a 10-point numerical rating scale were randomly assigned (2:2:1) to receive oral ibuprofen 400 mg plus caffeine 100 mg (n=256), ibuprofen alone (n=253) or placebo (n=126).
  • Primary outcome: change in POM triggering highest pain score at baseline (worst procedure) (POMWP) between day 1 and 2 mornings.
  • Secondary outcome: POMWP area under curve (POMWPAUC) between the mornings of day 1 and 4 (POMWPAUC72h) and 6 (POMWPAUC120h).
  • Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co and Sanofi-Aventis.

Key results

  • In ibuprofen, ibuprofen+caffeine and placebo groups, adjusted mean (standard error) reductions from baseline to the morning of day 2 were:
    • POMWP:
      • 1.998 (0.1042),
      • 1.869 (0.1030), and
      • 1.712 (0.1422), respectively.
    • POMWPAUC72h:
      • 4.461 (0.0942),
      • 4.512 (0.0931), and
      • 4.800 (0.1266), respectively.
    • POMWPAUC120h:
      • 3.718 (0.0992),
      • 3.776 (0.0981), and
      • 4.175 (0.1334), respectively.
  • The overall proportion of patients with treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) was low, and no patients reported severe AEs during the treatment period.

References


YOU MAY ALSO LIKE