Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · May 2004
Drug switching patterns among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis using COX-2 specific inhibitors and non-specific NSAIDs.
To compare RA and OA patients' time-to-switch after newly initiating treatment with three most commonly used non-specific (NS)-NSAIDs and two COX-2 inhibitors, celecoxib and rofecoxib. ⋯ Patients on the COX-2 specific inhibitors (celecoxib and rofecoxib) were significantly less likely to switch their therapy than patients on NS-NSAIDS (ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac). These results suggest that COX-2 specific inhibitors may be a more effective treatment option when compared with NS-NSAIDs in usual clinical practice.