A short-term, double-blind comparison between indoprofen and diclofenac in osteoarthritis

A double-blind crossover trial was carried out in 60 patients with osteoarthritis of large joints. Patients received both indoprofen 600 mg daily and diclofenac 100 mg daily for one week without any interval between treatments. The variables investigated were: pain at rest, pain on active motion under load, quality of sleep, articular flexion and patient's preference. The assessments were made before and at the end of each treatment period. Significant improvements were found for all variables with both drugs. No significant differences were detected between the two drugs. Ten patients (6 on indoprofen and 4 on diclofenac) reported adverse reactions i.e. slight gastralgia in most cases. No withdrawals of treatment were observed.