Therapeutic Trajectory of Hyaluronic Acid Versus Corticosteroids in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

A systematic review for comparison of hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis

Article specifications

This meta-analysis was published in 2009 in Arthritis and rheumatism (IF 2009:7.764) by American orthopedics. To compare the efficacy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid with corticosteroids for knee osteoarthritis researchers searched in Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, BIOSIS, and the Cochrane database, as well as hand searched reviews, manuscripts, and supplements. For unpublished data we used author contacts. Randomized trials that reported effects of intra-articular hyaluronic acid versus corticosteroids on knee OA were selected based on inclusion criteria. The 7 eligible trials included 606 participants.

Results

the evidence suggests that corticosteroids are more effective than hyaluronic acid in the short term (up to 4 weeks), whereas hyaluronic acid is more effective in the long term (4–26 weeks). Awareness of this pattern of response is useful to the clinician in formulating a therapeutic plan for patients with knee OA. It may also be useful to determine in future studies whether coadministration of the 2 agents has a synergistic effect that is useful in clinical practice.