• Jasmina I Ivanova, Howard G Birnbaum, Evan Kantor, Matt Schiller, and Ralph W Swindle.
• Analysis Group, Inc., New York, New York, USA.
• Pain Med. 2014 Jun 1;15(6):1015-26.

ObjectiveThe study aims to examine real-world effects of duloxetine treatment for low back pain (LBP).MethodsThe study identified employees with ≥1 LBP diagnosis and ≥1 duloxetine prescription within a year after LBP diagnosis from a privately insured claims database (2004-2007). Duloxetine-treated employees were propensity score matched to employees initiating another pharmacological/noninvasive treatment in the same month from LBP diagnosis. Treatment patterns and costs were compared over the 6 months following treatment initiation.ResultsRelative to controls, duloxetine-treated employees (N = 753) had significantly lower rates of other pharmacological/noninvasive therapies and a similar LBP surgery rate (1.7% vs 2.8%, P = 0.1573). Duloxetine-treated employees, despite higher pharmacy costs, had similar direct (health care) costs ($4,935 vs $5,649, P = 0.2662), and significantly lower indirect (workloss) costs ($1,723 vs $2,198, P = 0.0036).ConclusionsDuloxetine treatment in LBP employees was associated with reduced rates of many nonsurgical therapies and lower indirect costs. The findings are limited by the observational study design and unmeasured potential confounders.Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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