Painkiller no good for arthritis

Paracetamol is next to useless at alleviating arthritic pain, according to scientists.

A comprehensive study of the most common form of arthritis has discovered that a daily dose of paracetamol has little more impact on pain and mobility than a placebo.

The most effective way to treat osteoarthritis is with non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen. However, high doses can damage the stomach lining and raise the risk of an irregular heartbeat, so instead doctors often recommend a daily dose of paracetamol.

However, researchers pooled results from 74 random trials of 58,556 patients with osteoarthritis between 1980 and 2015, to show that this treatment is almost pointless.

Scientists at the University of Bern in Switzerland compared 22 different medical treatments, including various doses of paracetamol and seven NSAIDs, with a placebo. They found that although some doses of paracetamol had a small effect on improving physical function and reducing pain, the effect was only slightly better than a placebo, and did not reach the minimum clinically important difference.

Sven Trelle, who led the research, published in The Lancet yesterday, said: ‘‘Our results suggest that paracetamol at any dose is not effective in managing pain in osteoarthritis, but certain NSAIDs are effective and can be used intermittently without paracetamol.

‘‘There is a range of different drugs at different dosages that doctors can prescribe, but patients often switch between drugs, or stop taking them because the first one they use hasn’t sufficiently helped control the pain.’’