ArticleElectrophoresis2025
Monitoring Addiction to Pregabalin in Northern Algeria by Using Hair Testing.
Article in Electrophoresis, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pregabalin (PGB) is a novel gamma-aminobutyric acid analog that has been recently approved for the treatment of partial-onset seizures, neuropathic pain, and fibromyalgia. Although PGB presents a low potential for abuse in comparison to other scheduled drugs, the literature reports its potential misuse, especially among individuals with former or current drug addiction. The present study aimed to develop and validate a novel method for the determination of PGB in hair to perform a retrospective observational study on the misuse of this drug in a population of addicted subjects from Northern Algeria. Hair and urine samples were collected from patients (n = 79) with a history of illicit drug use, monitored by the Intermediate Addiction Care Center of Constantine (Algeria). None of the patients had a medical prescription for PGB. Samples had also been tested for the presence of other drugs of abuse with routine LC-MS/MS methods. Hair samples (∼25 mg) were analyzed for PGB after sonication for 2 h in acetonitrile. The organic phase was dried and reconstituted in 100 µL mobile phase and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The method was fully validated with LOD and LOQ results of 10 and 20 pg/mg, respectively. The linearity was verified in the 20-1000 pg/mg range. PGB was found in the hair samples of 51/79 subjects, with concentrations ranging from traces to 380 pg/mg. The study revealed that about 65% of the subjects used PGB in the absence of any medical prescription, indicating the potential misuse of this drug.
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.