SynthesisDeutsches Arzteblatt international2014
Drug treatments for pruritus in adult palliative care.
Synthesis in Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pharmacological interventions for pruritus in adult palliative care patients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Pharmacological interventions for pruritus in adult palliative care patients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Refractory Pruritus in End-Stage Prostatic Adenocarcinoma: An Unusual Presentation of A Hypereosinophilic Syndrome.European journal of case reports in internal medicine · 2026Article
- Case Report: Sympathetic nerve block treat chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Practice Gaps in Pruritus.Dermatologic clinics · 2016Review
- [Dyspnea, itching and depression in palliative medicine].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPruritus is a rare but troublesome symptom in palliative-care patients with a variety of underlying diseases. The pharmacotherapy of pruritus is often off-label, and an evidence-based evaluation is needed.
methodsA Cochrane Review published in 2013 was updated with a systematic literature search up to January 2014. Randomized and controlled trials (RCTs) with adult palliative-care patients were included.
resultsIn the 43 RCTs that were analyzed, three of which were more recent than the Cochrane Review, 8 clinically relevant active substances were investigated in a total of 19 RCTs. Effective drugs for pruritus in palliative-care patients included paroxetine for pruritus of diverse origins (1 RCT; strong effect) and indomethacin for HIV-induced prutitus (1 RCT; median effect = moderate reduction). Effective drugs for pruritus in uremia were gabapentin (2 RCTs; strong effect), nalfurafin (3 RCTs; moderate effect), naltrexone (3 RCTs; heterogeneous effects, ranging from weak to strong), and cromoglicic acid (2 RCTs; moderate to strong effect). Effective drugs for cholestatic pruritus were rifampicin (3 RCTs; moderate effect), flumecinol (2 RCTs; weak to moderate effect), and naltrexone (2 RCTs; moderate to strong effect). Undesired effects were most common with naltrexone (dizziness: 0% -50% , nausea: 0% -50% ) and nalfurafin (nasopharyngitis: 8% -12% , insomnia: 7% -15%).
conclusionIn view of the diverse etiologies of pruritus in palliative-care patients, careful consideration should be given to the choice of drug used to treat it. The substances listed here have moderate to strong antipruritic effects and merit further study in RCTs of high methodological quality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.