Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40271304›Full record

ReviewCureus2025

Therapeutic Uses and Efficacy of Low-Dose Naltrexone: A Scoping Review.

Kayla K Leiber, Robert W Parker

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Kayla K LeiberMedicine, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dothan, USA.
Robert W ParkerPharmacology, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dothan, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) has been suggested as a novel treatment option for several conditions and is of increasing interest due to its potential ability to address certain medical conditions that lack effective treatments or frequently rely on the use of opioids as treatment. This article will synthesize evidence and assess the scope of literature that examines low-dose naltrexone's efficacy against painful and other relevant medical conditions. A scoping review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Resources utilized for the review included PubMed and Excerpta Medica database (Embase). Articles included were required to be original research, published in English, conducted on human subjects, published in the last 15 years, have full text available, and include treatment with naltrexone in an off-label capacity (i.e., not for the treatment of alcohol or opioid use disorder). Zotero (Corporation for Digital Scholarship, Vienna, VA), a reference management software, was used to review all search results with this criterion. Search results yielded 2,399 articles; 995 did not meet inclusion criteria, 1,166 were excluded after screening by title, and 142 were excluded after screening by abstract. Ultimately, 68 articles were included after a full-text review. The articles selected presented clinical examples of LDN efficacy for a variety of medical conditions. These articles also helped to illuminate the current gaps in research, pointing to the need for larger clinical trials and proper dosing studies.

Indexed as

chronic pain managementfibromyalgia and inflammationhailey-hailey diseaseldnlow-dose naltrexoneopioid alternativeopioid-free analgesia

Identifiers

PMID40271304
PMCPMC12017383

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.