title: Effect of sertraline on uremic pruritus improvement in ESRD patients.
abstract: Background. Although uremic pruritus is a common and upsetting problem of chronic kidney disease, there is no approved treatment for it. This study was undertaken to find the efficiency of sertraline as a possible treatment for uremic pruritus. Methods. 19 ESRD patients under hemodialysis with severe chronic pruritus were randomly selected to participate in this before-after clinical trial. Before and after starting treatment with sertraline, a detailed pruritus history was obtained and pruritus graded by the 30-item inventory of pruritus that patients based on priorities grade allocated to 3 classes. Subjects were treated with sertraline 50 mg oral daily for four months, with monthly assessments of pruritus symptoms. Results. Before treatment with sertraline, the grade of pruritus in 9 (47.4%) patients was moderate and severe in 10 (52.6%) patients. After treatment, grade of pruritus in 11 (57.8%) patients was weak, 6 (31.5%) have moderate and only 2 (10.7%) patients have severe pruritus. Of 10 patients with severe pruritus, 5 (50%) patients experiencing weak pruritus, and 4 (40%) patients have moderate pruritus after treatment. Based on Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the difference between the grade of pruritus before and after treatment with sertraline was significant (P = 0.001). Conclusions. Although no definitive recommendation can be made regarding treatment of uremic pruritus, we found an increased antipruritic effect of sertraline in ESRD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan 98167-43463, Iran.
authors.forename: Mansor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shakiba
authors.forename: Hoshang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sanadgol
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Azmoude
authors.forename: Mohamad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mashhadi
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sharifi