Is Recormon® less painful than Eprex® after subcutaneous administration?

Abstract

In this study, we examined the differences in pain score after subcutaneous injection of the epoetin preparations Eprex and Recormon. Patients (n = 30) received 5 injections Eprex and 5 injections Recormon in a randomized double-blind sequence. 10 Min after receiving the injection the patient was asked to complete a visual and a verbal analogue scale and two descriptive scales. The results of 25 patients were used for statistical evaluation. The overall results indicate that there are significantly more patients reporting pain after subcutaneous injection of Eprex than after Recormon (11 versus 2 patients, p less than 0.05; McNemar test). 12 Patients reported no differences in pain. 43 Out of 123 injections Eprex and 69 out of 125 injections Recormon caused no pain (p less than 0.01; chi 2 9.455). For 4 patients Recormon was significantly (p less than 0.05) less painful than Eprex. It can be concluded that Recormon may be a less painful alternative for individual patients reporting pain after subcutaneous injection of Eprex.