A study of sulindac versus ibuprofen in elderly patients with osteoarthritis

A study was carried out in 30 elderly patients, aged between 65 and 89 years, with osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee joints to assess the efficacy and tolerance of sulindac compared with ibuprofen. Patients were allocated at random to receive either 200 mg sulindac twice daily or 400 mg ibuprofen 3-times daily for 12 weeks. The results showed that whilst both drugs produced improvement in the patient symptoms assessed, the only improvements reaching a statistically significant level were those for weight-bearing pain, pain on passive movement of the left lower limb joints and disease activity in the sulindac group. Both drugs were well tolerated and few side-effects were reported. However, 1 patient in the sulindac group had haematemesis and melaena (Week 1) and 1 in the ibuprofen group developed a rash (Week 9) and had to be withdrawn.