INTRODUCTION: Opioids and Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are used to manage low back pain. However, it has been reported in some researches that opioids have fewer side effects than NSAID.

METHODS: Patient files of all the patients admitted to the emergency department of Ufuk University ethics committee on 23.03.2018 and applied with severe nontraumatic low back pain between 01.01.2015 and 01.01.2016 were examined retrospectively. It was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of these two drugs in the treatment of pain by evaluating the responses of these patients with visual analogue scale scales.

RESULTS: A total of 138 patients among 911 patients experiencing low back pain were included in the study. 81 patients received 75 mg of diclofenac sodium therapy alone, 57 patients received only Petidin hydro- chloride treatment. 64 (46.4%) of the patients were male and 74 (53.6%) were female. It was found that there was no statistically significant correlation between pain scores of 75 mg of diclofenac sodium imide treatment applied and Pethidine hydrochloride applied patient groups (p > 0.05). There was no statistically significant correlation between pain scores and genders of 75 mg of diclofenac sodium imide treatment applied and Pethidine hydrochloride applied patient groups (p > 0.05). The difference between patients’ referral scores and pain scores after 45 minutes (75 mg diclofenac sodium imide and petidine hydrochloride imide) were found to be statistically insignificant (p > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the analyzed results of the efficacy of 75 mg diclofenac sodium treatment related to gender (p > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the analyzed results of the efficacy of Pethidine hydrochlo- ride treatment related to sex (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Opioids have fewer side effects than NSAIDs in short period management of the pain, and they may be used for low back pain management in emergency services instead of NSAIDs.