Symptomatic Efficacy of Pharmacological Treatments for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and a Network Meta-Analysis with a 6-Month Time Horizon

Abstract

Introduction: Several pharmacological treatments aiming at a better symptomatic control of osteoarthritis (OA) are used in daily practice but their efficacy is often disputed. The purpose of this network meta-analysis (NMA) is to assess the efficacy on pain and function of the drugs that are most widely prescribed against knee OA. Methods: Medline, Scopus, and Cochrane database of systematic reviews were searched for randomized controlled trials published up to August 2019 and assessing the efficacy of knee OA treatments using a 6-month time horizon. Pain and function changes from baseline were the primary outcomes. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was run and standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% credibility intervals (95% CrIs) were calculated. Results: 9697 references were identified and 80 RCTs were concordant with our inclusion criteria (79 studies involving 15,609 individuals reported pain outcomes and 55 studies involving 13,655 individuals reported function outcomes). A significant decrease in pain was observed for the intra-articular (IA) combination of hyaluronic acid (HA) and triamcinolone (SMD − 0.49, 95% CrI − 0.78; − 0.19), vitamin D (SMD − 0.31, 95% CrI − 0.56; − 0.06), IA HA (SMD − 0.29, 95% CrI − 0.40; − 0.17), prescription-grade crystalline glucosamine sulfate (pCGS) (SMD − 0.29, 95% CrI − 0.58; − 0.004), and prescription-grade chondroitin sulfate (pCS) (SMD − 0.26, 95% CrI − 0.44; − 0.08). Significant improvements in physical function were found with pCGS (SMD − 0.44, 95% CrI − 0.66; − 0.21), vitamin D (SMD − 0.30, 95% CrIs − 0.49; − 0.11) and IA HA (SMD − 0.21, 95% CrIs − 0.31; − 0.11). Conclusion: Six months of treatment with IA HA, pCGS, pCS, vitamin D and the combination of IA HA and triamcinolone improve pain and/or physical function in patients suffering from knee OA.