comparison of Efficacy and safety assessment of intra-articular injection of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid and oral NSAIDs for Japanese patients with knee osteoarthritis

Hyaluronic acid: as effective as NSAIDs for knee Osteoarthritis. A meta-analysis

Article specifications

This meta-analysis study was published in 2013 in journal of Osteoarthritis and Cartillage (IF 2013: 4.165) by American researchers. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of HA in a pooled comparison to NSAIDs for knee OA. In searched Medline, EMBASE, Google Scholar, ISI Web of Science and Cochrane Database from inception to November 2012 they also hand-searched review articles, manuscripts and supplements from medical journals, included all human randomized controlled trials comparing HA with NSAIDs for knee OA. These trials included 712 participants (HA - 357; NSAIDs - 355) with an age range of 61 to 67 years .They were published between 1995 and 2012. NSAIDs used in these trials were from the same class. Four different HA preparations were used.

Results

This meta-analysis showed that HA injection is as effective as continuous oral NSAIDs at 4 and 12 weeks and it also is has no safety concerns; however, the included trials had only a short follow-up duration.