Current medical research and opinion
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Onset of pain relief with rofecoxib in chronic low back pain: results of two four-week, randomized, placebo-controlled trials.
We recently reported the efficacy of rofecoxib in two randomized controlled trials in chronic low back pain (CLBP). The objectives of this report are to present data regarding the onset of efficacy of rofecoxib from these trials and propose methods for reporting onset. ⋯ Approximately 2/3 of patients achieved meaningful pain relief with rofecoxib time to onset of meaningful relief was about 2 days, but superior relief over placebo was seen by bedtime after the first dose. Onset of perceptible pain relief was within 2 h. We propose that measures of onset of analgesic effect include the proportion of patients who achieve meaningful pain relief and in this subgroup, the time-to-onset of confirmed meaningful reduction in pain intensity, time-to-onset of confirmed pain relief, and time to first separation from placebo in the proportion of patients who achieve meaningful pain relief.
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Multicenter Study
Evaluation of quality of life following treatment with etoricoxib in patients with arthritis or low-back pain: an open label, uncontrolled pilot study in Mexico.
An open-label study was undertaken at multiple centers in Mexico to assess the impact of treatment with etoricoxib - a selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor - on quality of life (QoL) and pain relief among patients with osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or chronic low-back pain (CLBP). The study involved 191 adult patients (aged > 18 years old) who had used non-selective non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for the treatment of OA, RA or CLBP during the month prior to study enrolment. After discontinuation of prior therapy, patients were treated with etoricoxib 60 mg for OA and CLBP,or 90 mg for RA once daily for 2 weeks. ⋯ During etoricoxib therapy, use of concomitant medications was reduced. The results of this study are limited due to the lack of a control group, the un-blinded design, and the small number of patients. Large naturalistic trials are needed to confirm the results.