Peripheral oedema is a known adverse effect of gabapentin and pregabalin (Lyrica0 or other brands). In 2021, a Canadian team investigated the extent to which use of these drugs (off-label) for lower back pain was followed by prescription of diuretics (1).Using a health insurance database, the authors studied data from about 260 000 patients aged 66 years or older, recorded as newly diagnosed with lower back pain over the period 2011 to 2019. The patients had no history of heart, kidney or liver failure, or of epilepsy. They had not received a prescription for gabapentin or pregabalin during the previous year, nor for a diuretic, and were not taking a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (a known cause of oedema). Pregabalin or gabapentin was dispensed to 7867 of these patients during the week following the diagnosis of lower back pain. Half of these patients were over 74 years of age (1).
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