[Ссылки доступны только зарегистрированным пользователям ]
Results: A total of 212 patients were enrolled in the study (106 assigned to each group). The baseline characteristics were similar for the 2 groups. The mean age of the patients was 66 years, and about 80% were women. Only 71 patients (67%) in the glucosamine group and 68 (64%) in the placebo group completed the 3 years of follow-up. Intention-to-treat analysis revealed that the mean joint-space narrowing was –0.06 mm in the glucosamine group and –0.31 mm in the placebo group, for a difference of 0.24 mm (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01 to 0.48, p = 0.043). The minimum joint-space narrowing was –0.07 mm with glucosamine, as compared with –0.40 mm with placebo, for a similar difference of 0.33 mm (95% CI 0.12 to 0.54, p = 0.003). A preservation of about 0.3 mm in joint-space width over 3 years may not seem clinically significant, but the authors cite a rate of natural joint-space narrowing of –0.1 mm per year in other studies. The change in overall symptom score using visual analogue scales was –11.7% with glucosamine and 9.8% with placebo, for a difference of –21.6% (p = 0.02). Glucosamine was well tolerated.
Commentary: Although this was described as a double-blind study, there were no data on the success of allocation concealment, a criticism of earlier studies of glucosamine.2 If patients knew their treatment assignment, then the subjective perception of symptom relief with glucosamine may have been exaggerated. The measurements of joint-space narrowing, however, were objective and raise the possibility of a disease-modifying effect.
|