Tramadol’s Trade-Off: Limited Pain Relief, Higher Risk
- Dr. Gerda Maissel
- Nov 22
- 1 min read
Chronic pain management is complex, and this study sheds light on a long-debated drug.
This February 2025 article by Barakji, published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, analyzed 19 randomized controlled trials involving 6,506 participants. The results showed tramadol reduced chronic pain scores by less than one point on a 10-point scale—below the threshold for meaningful improvement—while doubling the risk of serious adverse events and increasing non-serious effects like nausea, dizziness, and fatigue.
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