Key clinical point: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who received transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) had clinically significant reduction in musculoskeletal pain when compared with those who received sham stimulation during a brief pilot trial.

Major finding: The 12 patients who received actual taVNS had a significantly greater reduction in their pain, compared with 6 sham-treated patients (–5.00 vs. 0.10; P = .049).

Study details: A double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled pilot study of 18 patients with SLE who had musculoskeletal pain rated as 4 or higher on a 10-cm visual analog scale.

Disclosures: The study was supported by a grant from the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation. One author reported a financial relationship with Set Point Medical and My String, and three authors reported having a provisional patent application titled “Auricular stimulation device, system and methods of use.”