Steroid efficacy in Meralgia Paresthetica: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: To determine the efficacy of steroid injections for pain relief in patients with meralgia paresthetica (MP). Methods: All the literature published until March 2023 was explored from several databases, including EBSCO, PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Articles investigating the change in pain status of MP patients after steroid injection were included. The primary outcomes were complete pain relief, pain scores at 15 days and one month after intervention. When compared to the baseline, the secondary outcomes for the steroid group included pain scores at the end of treatment and quality of life, which were further evaluated by two factors, namely mental and physical health. Results: The analysis of the studies validated that steroids were significantly successful in providing complete pain relief (p-value = 0.00001), and in reducing the pain score of patients with meralgia paresthetica at 15 days (p-value = 0.02), but not at one month (p-value = 0.79) as compared to the control group. The analysis did not reveal any significant subgroup differences among various steroids (P = 0.52; CI: 0.01 -0.10; RR: 0.04; I2 = 0%). Mental health (MD = 4.23; 95% CI = 0.42 to 8.03; p = 0.03, I2 = 0%) was significantly improved in the steroid group when compared with baseline. Conclusion: Steroids injections can play an important role in improving symptoms and complications of meralgia paresthetica, especially in the short term.