Effect of Corticosteroid Injection among West African People Suffered from Levator Scapulae Syndrome

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the effect of corticosteroid injection in patients with levator scapulae syndrome in the National Hospital University Hubert Koutoukou, Maga of Cotonou (Benin). Methods: A prospective case-control study was conducted from october 2016 to June 2017. The selected patients suffered from levator scapulae syndrome received three corticosteroid injection at one week interval compared to a control-group with the same disease treated with medical drugs and anesthetic injection. Demographic data, clinical parameters and outcomes during six months were collected. The primary endpoint was the reduction of visual analog score (VAS). Quality of life was assessed using the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36). Results: Twenty-three (23) patients received corticosteroid injection against twenty-one (21) in the control group. The mean age was 37.43 ± 12.02 (24-59) years and 36.01 ± 11.8 and the sex ratio was 1.55 (14/9) and 1.3 (12/9), respectively in the ‘‘injection group’’ and ‘‘control group.’’ All patients had a VAS ≥ 6. At one, three and six months, 21 (94.3%), 19 (82.6) and 16 (69.5) patients had, respectively more than 75% pain reduction in the injection group against 6 (26.1%), 3 (14.2) and 2 (8.7) patients in the control group (p=0.035, 0.011 and 0.013 respectively). After 6 months, physical and mental composite scores of SF-36 in the injection group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p=0.001). Conclusion: The injection of corticosteroid is an effective therapeutic in the treatment of the levator scapulae syndrome. It should be performed with another study and may be repeated after six months in patients.