title: Antiepileptics for post-herpetic neuralgia in the elderly: current and future prospects.
abstract: Post-herpetic neuralgia is a painful condition and its prevalence increases with age. It is a burden for older patients and the association of age-related pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes, high co-morbidity and polypharmacy leads to the risk of adverse drug reactions and interactions. This type of neuropathic pain is particularly difficult to treat and guidelines recommend the use of gabapentinoids and some antidepressants, the utility of which may be hampered by adverse effects such as sedation, dizziness and impaired age-related renal function. Re-formulations of antiepileptics (anticonvulsants) are being developed and/or marketed and suggest interesting innovative profiles with improved bioavailability, low drug-drug interactions and better tolerability that need to be confirmed in future studies. However, there are no new antiepileptics being developed for post-herpetic neuralgia, and prospective studies specifically focused on the older population are still missing, while this age group is particularly at risk of developing shingles and chronic neuropathic pain with a deleterious impact on quality of life.
authors.affiliation: CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Centre de Pharmacologie Clinique, 63003, Clermont-Ferrand, France, gisele.pickering@udamail.fr.
authors.forename: Gisèle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pickering
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000588:Amines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000639:trends*; D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004347:Drug Interactions; D000077206:Gabapentin; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D051474:Neuralgia, Postherpetic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019338:Polypharmacy; D000069583:Pregabalin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000588:Amines; D000927:Anticonvulsants; D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; D000069583:Pregabalin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D000077206:Gabapentin