Effect of diacerein versus celecoxib combined with glucosamine sulfate on knee osteoarthritis

Objective To understand the effect of diacerein versus celecoxib combined with glucosamine sulfate for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA)． Methods Fifty-two patients with knee osteoarthritis admitted to outpatient department in our hospital from September 2014 to June 2016 were enrolled in this study． All the patients were randomly divided into two groups: celecoxib (45 mg, 1/d) combined with glucosamine sulfate (50 mg, 3/d) group and diacerein (50 mg, 2/d) combined with glucosamine sulfate (50 mg, 3/d) group． The VAS score and WOMAC score were collected at 2, 4 and 12 weeks after the initial treatment． Results The VAS scores of celecoxib group and diacerein group at 2, 4, 12 weeks after operation were (2．71±1．11 vs 4．27±1．15, P=0．01), (2．71±0．76 vs 3．59±0．69, P=0．03), (2．29±1．11 vs 3．58±0．98, P=0．02), respectively． The WOMAC scores of celecoxib group and diacerein group at 2, 4, 12 weeks after operation were (57．43±13．65 vs 49．27±12．63, P=0．03), (51．43±10．60 vs 45．43±16．61, P=0．01), (52．71±15．99) vs (46．86±13．19) (P=0．01), respectively． Compared with diacerein group, celecoxib group showed decrease of VAS score while increase of WOMAC score at each time point of treatment． Conclusion Celecoxib or diacerein combined with the usage of glucosamine sulfate can significantly relieve the symptoms of KOA patients． However, diacerein shows greater improvement on function recovery while celecoxib presents better result on pain relief． The combination of diacerein and glucosamine sulfate can be a treatment plan for KOA patients．