71-year-old man with chronic kidney failure and sudden change of mental status

Extracorporeal Treatment for Gabapentin and Pregabalin Poisoning: Systematic Review and Recommendations From the EXTRIP Workgroup

Toxicity from gabapentin and pregabalin overdose is commonly encountered. Treatment is supportive, and the use of extracorporeal treatments (ECTRs) is controversial. The EXTRIP workgroup conducted systematic reviews of the literature and summarized findings following published methods. Thirty-three articles (30 patient reports and 3 pharmacokinetic studies) met the inclusion criteria. High gabapentinoid extracorporeal clearance (>150mL/min) and short elimination half-life (<5 hours) were reported with hemodialysis. The workgroup assessed gabapentin and pregabalin as "dialyzable" for patients with decreased kidney function (quality of the evidence grade as A and B, respectively). Limited clinical data were available (24 patients with gabapentin toxicity and 7 with pregabalin toxicity received ECTR). Severe toxicity, mortality, and sequelae were rare in cases receiving ECTR and in historical controls receiving standard care alone. No clear clinical benefit from ECTR could be identified although major knowledge gaps were acknowledged, as well as costs and harms of ECTR. The EXTRIP workgroup suggests against performing ECTR in addition to standard care rather than standard care alone (weak recommendation, very low quality of evidence) for gabapentinoid poisoning in patients with normal kidney function. If decreased kidney function and coma requiring mechanical ventilation are present, the workgroup suggests performing ECTR in addition to standard care (weak recommendation, very low quality of evidence).

Gabapentin and Pregabalin Use and Association with Adverse Outcomes among Hemodialysis Patients

Background Gabapentin and pregabalin are used to manage neuropathic pain, pruritus, and restless legs syndrome in patients on hemodialysis. These patients may be especially predisposed to complications related to these agents, which are renally cleared, but data regarding the risk thereof are lacking.Methods From the US Renal Data System, we identified 140,899 Medicare-covered adults receiving hemodialysis with Part D coverage in 2011. Using Cox regression models in which we adjusted for demographics, comorbidities, duration of exposure, number of medications, and use of potentially confounding concomitant medications, we investigated the association between gabapentin and pregabalin, modeled as separate time-varying exposures, and time to first emergency room visit or hospitalization for altered mental status, fall, and fracture. We evaluated risk according to daily dose categories: gabapentin (>0-100, >100-200, >200-300, and >300 mg) and pregabalin (>0-100 and >100 mg).Results In 2011, 19% and 4% of patients received gabapentin and pregabalin, respectively. Sixty-eight percent of gabapentin or pregabalin users had a diagnosis of neuropathic pain, pruritus, or restless legs syndrome. Gabapentin was associated with 50%, 55%, and 38% higher hazards of altered mental status, fall, and fracture, respectively, in the highest dose category, but even lower dosing was associated with a higher hazard of altered mental status (31%-41%) and fall (26%-30%). Pregabalin was associated with up to 51% and 68% higher hazards of altered mental status and fall, respectively.Conclusions Gabapentin and pregabalin should be used judiciously in patients on hemodialysis, and research to identify the most optimal dosing is warranted.

Drug management in the elderly adult with chronic kidney disease: a review for the primary care physician

With advancing age, the functional reserve of many organs tends to decrease. In particular, the lean body mass, the levels of serum albumin, the blood flow to the liver, and the glomerular filtration rate are reduced in elderly individuals and can be further impaired by the concomitant presence of acute or chronic kidney disease. Moreover, patients with kidney disease are often affected by comorbid processes and are prescribed multiple medications. The aging process also modifies some drug interactions, including the affinity of some drugs for their receptor, the number of receptors, and the cell responses upon receptor activation. Therefore, older patients with kidney disease are particularly susceptible to the risks of adverse drug reactions. Planning a pharmacological regimen in such patients is confounded by the paucity of information available on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of a large number of drugs commonly used in this group of patients. Finally, many aged patients suffer from unintentional poor compliance. In this review, the problems physicians face in designing safe and effective medication management in elderly individuals are discussed, paying attention to those more frequently used, which may be potentially harmful in patients with kidney disease. The risks of overdosing and underdosing are outlined, and some recommendations to reduce the risk of adverse drug reactions are provided. A review of the literature covering the field of drug management in older patients with kidney disease was performed by selecting those articles published between January 1, 1990, and December 1, 2014, using PubMed as a search engine with the keywords elderly, kidney disease, drugs, drug interaction, and renal function.