Efficacy and safety of intraarticular hyaluronic acid and corticosteroid for knee osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis.

Article specifications

This meta-analysis was published in 2017 in Int J Surg. (IF 2017: 2.221) by british specialists. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intraarticular hyaluronic acid and corticosteroid for knee osteoarthritis. Potential studies were searched from the electronic databases included PubMed, Embase, web of science and the Cochrane Library up to August 2016. High quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were selected based on inclusion criteria. RevMan 5.3 were used for the meta-analysis. 12 RCTs containing 1794 patients meet the inclusion criteria. 

Results

Intraarticular CS is more effective on pain relief than intraarticular HA in short term (up to 1 month), while HA is more effective in long term (up to 6 months). Two therapies benefit similarly for knee function improvement. Both two methods are relatively safe, but intraarticular HA causes more topical adverse effects compared with intraarticular CS.