The nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs are commonly prescribed in chronic joint disease, especially in osteoarthritis. Safety of the drug as well as its efficacy has great importance in selecting between similar medications, especially in elderly. We conducted a clinical study in order to determine if there is a difference between two groups with short and long half-lives with regard to their efficacy and safety, or not.
Two drugs with shortest (Diclofenac) and longest (Tenoxicam) plasma half-lives were tested against placebo on 56 outpatients with osteoarthritis of the knee which was choosen as chronic joint disease model. Patients were randomly divided into three groups and used one of the following medications for two weeks; tenoxicam 20 mg once daily, diclofenac 25 mg 4 times a day or placebo 3 times a day. Patients were assessed before and after the two weeks of drug-free period. Both drugs were found to be safe and significantly superior to placebo on efficacy. In comparison of the two drugs, no significant difference was detected at the end of the second week. However, the results of the tenoxicam group appeared to be better than diclofenac group at the end of fourth week.
Key words: NSAIDs, Diclofenac, Tenoxicam, Osteoarthritis.
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