Efficacy of interrupted cyclic treatment with prednisolone on cancer pain: a randomized crossover study

Ain-Shams Journal of Anesthesiology

Table 4 Study stages comparison; pain scores, and side effects

Variable	Stage (A) Glucocorticoid/2nd day	Stage(B) Glucocorticoid/4th day	P value
VAS at:
14 days	3.31 ± 0.83	3.58 ± 0.55	0.081
28 days	3.1 ± 0.64	3.74 ± 0.59	≤ 0.001
Pain severity score (PSS) at:
14 days	3.7 ± 0.67	3.54 ± 0. 43	0.344
28 days	3.46 ± 0.52	3.62 ± 0.34	0.1
Myopathy	6/33(15.38%)	9/30(15.38%)	0.389
Appetite loss	25/14(64.1%)	32/7(82%)	0.74
Insomnia	6/33(15.38%)	8/31(20.5%)	0.555

Legend: this table shows highly significant decrease in VAS at 28 days in stage A compared to stage B [better analgesia] after oral glucocorticoid dosing once a day every other day as adjuvant to WHO stepladder analgesics with no significant difference as regards myopathy, appetite loss, and insomnia in between the study stages. Data were in mean and standard deviation except for myopathy, appetite loss, and insomnia were in number and percent%. Cross tab chi-square statistical test was used for comparison of non-parametric data and t test for parametric data. P value was significant if < 0.05