Trial investigates pain treatment in knee osteoarthritis

Researchers examined whether the interleukin-1 beta blocker diacerein may be effective in improving knee pain in patients who have knee osteoarthritis with an inflammatory phenotype.

In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers randomly assigned more than 250 adult patients with clinical knee osteoarthritis, knee pain and effusion-synovitis on MRI to receive either 50 milligrams of oral diacerein or placebo once daily for two weeks and 50 milligrams twice daily thereafter.

The researchers found that there were no statistically significant reductions in knee pain between the patients who received diacerein and those who received placebo. Further, the patients who received diacerein reported gastrointestinal symptoms as a common adverse effect.

As a result of the negative findings, the researchers indicated that diacerein may be ineffective in treating knee pain in this patient population.

Read more: JAMA Internal Medicine

The article presented here is intended to inform you about the broader media perspective on dentistry, regardless of its alignment with the ADA's stance. It is important to note that publication of an article does not imply the ADA's endorsement, agreement, or promotion of its content.