Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.
Postherpetic Neuralgia
The most common adverse reactions associated with the use of NEURONTIN in adults, not seen at an equivalent frequency among placebo-treated patients, were dizziness, somnolence, and peripheral edema.
In the 2 controlled trials in postherpetic neuralgia, 16% of the 336 patients who received NEURONTIN and 9% of the 227 patients who received placebo discontinued treatment because of an adverse reaction. The adverse reactions that most frequently led to withdrawal in NEURONTIN-treated patients were dizziness, somnolence, and nausea.
Following table lists adverse reactions that occurred in at least 1% of NEURONTIN-treated patients with postherpetic neuralgia participating in placebo-controlled trials and that were numerically more frequent in the NEURONTIN group than in the placebo group.
| NEURONTIN N=336 % |
Placebo N=227 % |
|
|---|---|---|
|
||
| Body as a Whole | ||
| Asthenia | 6 | 5 |
| Infection | 5 | 4 |
| Accidental injury | 3 | 1 |
| Digestive System | ||
| Diarrhea | 6 | 3 |
| Dry mouth | 5 | 1 |
| Constipation | 4 | 2 |
| Nausea | 4 | 3 |
| Vomiting | 3 | 2 |
| Metabolic and Nutritional Disorders | ||
| Peripheral edema | 8 | 2 |
| Weight gain | 2 | 0 |
| Hyperglycemia | 1 | 0 |
| Nervous System | ||
| Dizziness | 28 | 8 |
| Somnolence | 21 | 5 |
| Ataxia | 3 | 0 |
| Abnormal thinking | 3 | 0 |
| Abnormal gait | 2 | 0 |
| Incoordination | 2 | 0 |
| Respiratory System | ||
| Pharyngitis | 1 | 0 |
| Special Senses | ||
| Amblyopia | 3 | 1 |
| Conjunctivitis | 1 | 0 |
| Diplopia | 1 | 0 |
| Otitis media | 1 | 0 |
Other reactions in more than 1% of patients but equally or more frequent in the placebo group included pain, tremor, neuralgia, back pain, dyspepsia, dyspnea, and flu syndrome.
There were no clinically important differences between men and women in the types and incidence of adverse reactions. Because there were few patients whose race was reported as other than white, there are insufficient data to support a statement regarding the distribution of adverse reactions by race.