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Therapeutics/Prevention
Systematic review with meta-analysis
Paracetamol is ineffective for spinal pain and knee and hip osteoarthritis
  1. David Felson1,2
  1. 1Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  2. 2University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  1. Correspondence to : Dr David Felson, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Boston University, 650 Albany Street, X-200, Boston, MA 02118, USA; dfelson{at}bu.edu

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmed-2015-110221

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    Commentary on: Machado GC, Maher CG, Ferreira PH, et al. Efficacy and safety of paracetamol for spinal pain and osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo controlled trials. BMJ 2015;350:h1225OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text.

    Context

    While paracetamol continues to be recommended as an initial pharmacological treatment for osteoarthritis and to a lesser extent for back pain, increasingly trials and meta-analyses have suggested that its efficacy is minimal and some epidemiological evidence suggests that at high doses, paracetamol may be dangerous. Machado and colleagues carried out the most comprehensive meta-analysis yet of the efficacy and safety of paracetamol versus placebo for back pain, neck pain and knee and hip osteoarthritis pain.

    Methods

    The authors carried out a comprehensive search for randomised trials comparing efficacy and safety of paracetamol versus placebo for the aforementioned …

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    Footnotes

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.