Duloxetine Proven Effective and Safe for Managing Diabetic Neuropathy: Study

Between November 2022 and October 2023, 113 clinically diagnosed DN patients between the ages of 25 and 65 participated in a cross-sectional study at Sandeman Provincial Hospital's Medicine Department in Quetta. Starting with 20 mg per day, duloxetine was modified in accordance with tolerance.

The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to measure the degree of pain, and nerve conduction studies (NCS) were conducted at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks. Additionally, baseline biochemical markers such as FBG, PPBS, and HbA1c were noted. IBM SPSS v26.0 was used for data analysis, including chi-square tests for categorical variables and paired t-tests for continuous variables. The threshold for significance was p < 0.05.

The average age of participants was 52.7 ± 8.1 years, and they had diabetes for an average of 6.3 ± 2.1 years. Almost, 70.8% of patients had poor glycemic control (HbA1c > 6.5%). VAS pain ratings were 7.6 ± 1.1 on average at baseline. However, they drastically decreased to 4.3 ± 0.9 after 4 weeks and 2.5 ± 0.8 at 8 weeks.

The studies on nerve conduction revealed a significant improvement: median nerve velocity rose from 48.5 ± 6.2 m/s at baseline to 54.3 ± 5.8 m/s after 8 weeks, and peroneal nerve velocity also increased. Nearly, 28.3% of patients experienced adverse symptoms, with nausea accounting for 10.6%, dizziness for 7.1%, and somnolence for 6.2%.

Overall, duloxetine is an efficient and well-tolerated therapy for DN, as demonstrated by this study, which also shows improvements in nerve conduction metrics, neuropathic symptoms, and pain intensity.

Source:

Osama, M., Javaid, M., Shahid, B., Heema, Jamali, A. G., Anwar, B., & Mushtaq, T. (2025). Efficacy of duloxetine in the management of Diabetic neuropathy: A prospective observational cohort study. Cureus, 17(4), e82382. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.82382