NSAID Prescriptions for Osteoarthritis Decreasing

Prescriptions for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) among patients with osteoarthritis have considerably decreased over time, a recent observational study published in Arthritis Care and Research found. However, there were variations in prescription patterns associated with different geographic areas, but not with clinical setting.

“Our review established that 4 in every 10 participants diagnosed with osteoarthritis seeking health care were prescribed a type of NSAID over 30 years,” the paper read. Also, prescriptions were greater in middle income countries. The studies reporting on the type of NSAIDs prescribed found that “prescribing of nonselective NSAIDs was more prevalent than selective NSAID prescribing,” the researchers said.

For the systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers included 6,494,509 adults with osteoarthritis across 51 studies published between 1989 and 2022.  The mean patient age was 64.7 years. The results indicated that 43.8% of the patients with osteoarthritis (95% CI, 36.8%-51.1%) were prescribed NSAIDs.

Compared to North America, there were a greater number of prescriptions in Europe and Central Asia (95% CI, 0.23-2.28; P =.02) and South Asia (95% CI, 1.27-4.76; P =.001)

In general, a decrease in NSAID prescribing over time was found (95% CI, -0.08 to 0.00; P =.05).

Additionally, patients with spinal osteoarthritis (66.9%) were more commonly prescribed NSAIDs, compared to patients with hip osteoarthritis (34.9%) and knee osteoarthritis (46.3%).

Reference:
Yang Z, Mathieson S, Kobayashi S, Shaheed CA, Nogueira LAC, Simic M, Machado G and McLachlan AJ. Prevalence of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs prescribed for osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Arthritis Care Res. 2023: 75; 2345-2358. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.25157