Table 2.
Initial treatments by condition and combination of therapeutic class (percentage of treated patients)
| Post-herpetic neuralgia | Trigeminal neuralgia | Phantom limb pain | Painful diabetic neuropathy | |
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | |
| Opioid analgesics alone | 84 (5.9) | 45 (3.9) | 7 (17.5) | 47 (5.1) |
| Opioid analgesics + Antidepressants (tricyclic) | 41 (2.9) | 12 (1.0) | 2 (5.0) | 21 (2.3) |
| Opioid analgesics + Antidepressants (other) | 2 (0.1) | 1 (0.1) | 0 | 4 (0.4) |
| Opioid analgesics + Antiepileptics | 13 (0.9) | 22 (1.9) | 0 | 8 (0.9) |
| Opioid analgesics + Non-opioid analgesics | 168 (11.9) | 94 (8.1) | 5 (12.5) | 97 (10.5) |
| Opioid analgesics + Rubefacients | 6 (0.4) | 1 (0.1) | 0 | 2 (0.2) |
| Antidepressants (tricyclic) alone | 445 (31.5) | 225 (19.3) | 8 (20.0) | 281 (30.5) |
| Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Antidepressants (other) | 2 (0.1) | 1 (0.1) | 0 | 5 (0.5) |
| Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Antiepileptics | 7 (0.5) | 12 (1.0) | 0 | 14 (1.5) |
| Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Non-opioid analgesics | 68 (4.8) | 21 (1.8) | 1 (2.5) | 35 (3.8) |
| Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Rubefacients | 17 (1.2) | 2 (0.2) | 0 | 2 (0.2) |
| Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Local anaesthetics | 2 (0.1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Antidepressants (other) alone | 7 (0.5) | 7 (0.6) | 2 (5.0) | 23 (2.5) |
| Antidepressants (other) + Antiepileptics | 2 (0.1) | 10 (0.9) | 1 (2.5) | 8 (0.9) |
| Antidepressants (other) + Non-opioid analgesics | 4 (0.3) | 1 (0.1) | 1 (2.5) | 5 (0.5) |
| Antidepressants (other) + Rubefacients | 3 (0.2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Antiepileptics alone | 158 (11.2) | 543 (46.7) | 7 (17.5) | 165 (17.9) |
| Antiepileptics + Non-opioid analgesics | 15 (1.1) | 13 (1.1) | 3 (7.5) | 5 (0.5) |
| Antiepileptics + Rubefacients | 8 (0.6) | 2 (0.2) | 0 | 5 (0.5) |
| Antiepileptics + Local anaesthetics | 2 (0.1) | 1 (0.1) | 0 | 0 |
| Non-opioid analgesics alone | 70 (5.0) | 43 (3.7) | 1 (2.5) | 72 (7.8) |
| Non-opioid analgesics + Rubefacients | 7 (0.5) | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.2) |
| Rubefacients alone | 78 (5.5) | 12 (1.0) | 0 | 37 (4.0) |
| Local anaesthetics alone | 2 (0.1) | 4 (0.3) | 0 | 8 (0.9) |
| 1 therapeutic category | 844 (59.7) | 879 (75.5) | 25 (62.5) | 633 (68.7) |
| 2 therapeutic categories | 367 (26.0) | 193 (16.6) | 13 (32.5) | 213 (23.1) |
| 3 or more therapeutic categories | 203 (14.4) | 92 (7.9) | 2 (5.0) | 76 (8.2) |