Effect of Sertraline on Uremic Pruritus Improvement in ESRD Patients

Abstract EN

Background.

Although uremic pruritus is a common and upsetting problem of chronic kidney disease, there is no approved treatment for it.

This study was undertaken to find the efficiency of sertraline as a possible treatment for uremic pruritus.

Methods.

19 ESRD patients under hemodialysis with severe chronic pruritus were randomly selected to participate in this before-after clinical trial.

Before and after starting treatment with sertraline, a detailed pruritus history was obtained and pruritus graded by the 30-item inventory of pruritus that patients based on priorities grade allocated to 3 classes.

Subjects were treated with sertraline 50 mg oral daily for four months, with monthly assessments of pruritus symptoms.

Results.

Before treatment with sertraline, the grade of pruritus in 9 (47.4%) patients was moderate and severe in 10 (52.6%) patients.

After treatment, grade of pruritus in 11 (57.8%) patients was weak, 6 (31.5%) have moderate and only 2 (10.7%) patients have severe pruritus.

Of 10 patients with severe pruritus, 5 (50%) patients experiencing weak pruritus, and 4 (40%) patients have moderate pruritus after treatment.

Based on Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the difference between the grade of pruritus before and after treatment with sertraline was significant (P=0.001).

Conclusions.

Although no definitive recommendation can be made regarding treatment of uremic pruritus, we found an increased antipruritic effect of sertraline in ESRD patients.