Supplements fail to relieve arthritis pain

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate helped more severely affected patients.
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
Two dietary supplements that are widely used by arthritis sufferers appeared to perform no better than a placebo in relieving knee pain for most patients in a national trial.
But a small group of patients with moderate to severe pain did get significant pain relief when they took a combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, according to a report on the study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study is continuing to see if the supplements have any effect on the progression of osteoarthritis after taking them for one or two years.
The study is headed by Dr. Daniel Clegg, a rheumatologist at the University of Utah and chief of rheumatology at the Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
"For the study population as a whole, supplements were found to be ineffective," Clegg said. But analysis of the moderate-to-severe pain subgroup showed the combination "might be effective," he added.
However, since only about 300 out of nearly 1,600 patients in the study got the combination of supplements, Clegg said those findings "should be considered preliminary"
An estimated 20 million to 40 million Americans have osteoarthritis, caused by degeneration of cartilage that cushions joints.
About the study
Over the five-year, $12.5 million study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, patients were assigned to receive one of five treatments daily for 24 weeks: one of the two supplements (1,500 milligrams of glucosamine or 1,200 mg of chondroitin) or a combination, an inactive tablet or 200 mg of celecoxib (Celebrex), a drug approved by the FDA to manage osteoarthritis pain. The drug -- along other nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs -- has recently come under increased scrutiny for putting patients taking it at increased risk for heart attacks and strokes.
Celecoxib, proved most effective, with 70 percent of those taking it saying they had less pain, compared with 65 percent for chondroitin, 64 percent for glucosamine, 66 percent in combination and 60 percent for those taking the inactive tablets.
But among those experiencing more severe pain, the response rate for the combination was 79 percent, compared with 69 percent for celecoxib and 54 percent for the placebo.