Trial reportPloS one2024
Pilot RCT comparing low-dose naltrexone, gabapentin and placebo to reduce pain among people with HIV with alcohol problems.
Trial report in PloS one, 2024. 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, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Low Dose Naltrexone In The Management Of Chronic Pain Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials.Current pain and headache reports · 2025Pooled it
- The use of naltrexone in the treatment of chronic pain: a systematic review.Pain management · 2024Pooled it
- Low-Dose Naltrexone: What is the Evidence? A Narrative Review.Advances in therapy · 2026Review
- Pain assessment tools in patients with substance use disorders: a systematic scoping review.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- Article
- The expanding potential of low-dose naltrexone in clinical practice with a focus on long COVID.The mental health clinician · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTo estimate the effects on pain of two medications (low-dose naltrexone and gabapentin) compared to placebo among people with HIV (PWH) with heavy alcohol use and chronic pain.
methodsWe conducted a pilot, randomized, double-blinded, 3-arm study of PWH with chronic pain and past-year heavy alcohol use in 2021. Participants were recruited in St. Petersburg, Russia, and randomized to receive daily low-dose naltrexone (4.5mg), gabapentin (up to 1800mg), or placebo. The two primary outcomes were change in self-reported pain severity and pain interference measured with the Brief Pain Inventory from baseline to 8 weeks.
resultsParticipants (N = 45, 15 in each arm) had the following baseline characteristics: 64% male; age 41 years (SD±7); mean 2 (SD±4) heavy drinking days in the past month and mean pain severity and interference were 3.2 (SD±1) and 3.0 (SD±2), respectively. Pain severity decreased for all three arms. Mean differences in change in pain severity for gabapentin vs. placebo, and naltrexone vs. placebo were -0.27 (95% confidence interval [CI] -1.76, 1.23; p = 0.73) and 0.88 (95% CI -0.7, 2.46; p = 0.55), respectively. Pain interference decreased for all three arms. Mean differences in change in pain interference for gabapentin vs. placebo, and naltrexone vs. placebo was 0.16 (95% CI -1.38, 1.71; p = 0.83) and 0.40 (95% CI -1.18, 1.99; p = 0.83), respectively.
conclusionNeither gabapentin nor low-dose naltrexone appeared to improve pain more than placebo among PWH with chronic pain and past-year heavy alcohol use. CLINICAL
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (NCT4052139).
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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.