Micronized Palmitoylethanolamide: A Post Hoc Analysis of a Controlled Study in Patients with Low Back Pain – Sciatica
Randomised controlled trialHumans
- Design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Subjects
- A reanalysis of an earlier controlled registration study in patients with low back pain and sciatica. The abstract does not give the number of patients. The paper's indexed title describes over 600.
- Dose used in the study
- 600 mg a day of micronised palmitoylethanolamide
- What was measured
- Pain on a visual analogue scale and function on the Roland-Morris questionnaire, expressed as the number needed to treat
What the authors reported
Number needed to treat was 1.7 for pain (95% CI 1.4 to 2) and 1.5 for function (95% CI 1.4 to 1.7) at 600 mg a day. The authors say the effect was mainly on the nerve-related part of the pain.
Limits of this study
A post hoc analysis: the questions were chosen after the original trial had finished, which weakens the result. A number needed to treat below 2 is unusually strong for any pain treatment and should be read with care. The entry was checked against the abstract only, which gives no group sizes, duration, adverse events or funding.
Source
doi:10.2174/1871527318666190703110036
Entry checked against the abstract page at the publisher (Bentham Science) on 2026-09-21. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.