title: A pilot, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pregabalin (Lyrica) in the treatment of essential tremor.
abstract: We performed a pilot, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of pregabalin (PGB, Lyrica), an antiepileptic agent, in treating essential tremor (ET). Twenty two patients with ET were randomly assigned to receive PGB or placebo. PGB was initiated at 50 mg/day and was escalated by 75 mg/day every 4 days to a maximum dose of 600 mg/day. Patients were evaluated by accelerometry and the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin (FTM) rating scale. There was a significant reduction in tremor amplitude in the PGB group compared with the placebo group, as measured by accelerometry, at a mean dose of 286.76+/-100.05 mg/day. Action tremor limb scores on the FTM also improved in the PGB group compared with the placebo group (P-value for multilevel modeling=0.04). PGB was fairly well tolerated, with about one-third of patients dropping out of the study because of adverse events. PGB provided significant improvements in accelerometry and in action tremor limb scores on the FTM. However, larger studies are needed to further evaluate the potential effect of PGB on ET.
authors.affiliation: Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33612, USA. tzesiewi@hsc.usf.edu
authors.forename: Theresa A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Zesiewicz
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Jason L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Salemi
authors.forename: Shaila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siraj
authors.forename: Maria-Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Kelly L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D000069583:Pregabalin; D013997:Time Factors; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000069583:Pregabalin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid