Botox, or Botulinum toxin, a medication derived from a bacterial toxin, is commonly injected to ease wrinkles, migraines, muscle spasms, excessive sweating and incontinence.
Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego, in collaboration with two physicians from Germany, may have found a new use thanks to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database, in which nearly 40,000 people reported what happened to them after Botox treatment for a variety of reasons.
The study, publishing Dec. 21, 2021 in the journal Scientific Reports, found that people receiving Botox injections at four different sites — not just in the forehead — reported anxiety significantly less often than patients undergoing different treatments for the same conditions.
Ruben Abagyan, PhD-professor of pharmacy- and his team scoured the database for the absence or reduced frequency of anxiety and anxiety-related disorders as a health complaint, compared to a control group, when taking Botox. Then the team applied a mathematical algorithm to look for statistically significant differences between Botox users and patients who received different treatments for the same conditions.
Anxiety Risk lower in Botox-treated patients
They found that the reported anxiety risk was 22 to 72 percent lower in Botox-treated patients for four of eight conditions and injection sites: facial muscles for cosmetic use; facial and head muscles for migraine; upper and lower limbs for spasm and spasticity; and neck muscles for torticollis. (For the other four injection sites, there was not enough data for statistically significant confidence intervals, according to Abagyan.
Depression significantly less in their report in 2020
Abagyan and his team published a similar study — in Scientific Reports in July 2020 — in which, using the same database, they found that people who received Botox injections reported depression significantly less often than patients undergoing different treatments for the same conditions. Both studies found a decrease in reported symptoms regardless of injection site, thereby casting doubt on speculation that patients may have felt happier because they had fewer wrinkles, or because Botox prevents frowning. But the researchers believe the specific molecular mechanisms by which Botox reduces depression and anxiety — while not known — may be different. “They may be related, but there are different pathways responsible for anxiety attacks versus depression,” he said.
Abagyan said, more research is needed to determine the mechanism by which Botox reduces anxiety, and clinical trials will be necessary to work out the best site and dose to administer the medication specifically for anxiety.
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