Etodolac therapy for osteoarthritis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

The efficacy of etodolac (600 mg/day) and placebo were compared in a 4-week double-blind, parallel-group study involving 104 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and 106 with osteoarthritis of the hip. Most patients had improvement of their symptoms during the study, but significantly more improvement was seen in the patients taking etodolac. Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee taking etodolac had significantly (p less than 0.05) more improvement than placebo-treated patients in joint swelling, weight-bearing pain, and patient's overall assessment. Patients with osteoarthritis of the hip taking etodolac had significantly (p less than 0.05) greater improvement than placebo-treated patients in hip abduction, weight-bearing pain, joint tenderness, investigator's overall assessment, and patient's overall assessment. The frequency of adverse events was not statistically different in the two treatment groups. However, significantly (p = 0.05) more etodolac-treated patients (n = 9) than placebo-treated patients (n = 2) reported indigestion. The incidence of adverse events was similar in patients aged 65 years and older to that in patients younger than 65 years. Results of laboratory evaluations indicated that etodolac therapy was associated with no more hepatic or renal enzyme abnormalities than was placebo.