Prednisolone for Pain Reduction in Knee OA

June 13, 2012 updated by: Anna Abou-Raya, University of Alexandria

Phase 4 Study of Low Dose Prednisolone for Knee Osteoarthritis

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA), a common disabling condition, is the commonest type of arthritis worldwide. Knee OA is the 4th leading cause of disability in women. Pain is the leading symptom and is often chronic in nature leading to significant morbidity and decreased quality of life. Synovitis is prevalent in knee OA and treatment to relieve this synovitis may reduce pain.

Objectives: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial will be conducted to assess whether 6 weeks of daily low dose oral prednisolone will improve pain, mobility and systemic low-grade inflammation, in the short term and to determine if it sustained long term at 12 weeks in older adults with moderate to severe knee OA.

Methods: 125 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and above with primary knee OA diagnosed according to the ACR criteria for diagnosis of primary OA of the knee will berandomized 1:1. Sixty three will receive 7.5 mg/day of prednisolone and 62 will receive placebo together with their usual therapy for 6 weeks. The primary outcome measure will be pain reduction. Secondary outcome measures will be reduction in systemic inflammation and improvements in physical functioning scores. Alterations in dosage of analgesic/NSAID drugs used will be recorded. Safety and tolerability were also assessed. Data will be collected at baseline, 6 weeks and at 12 weeks to determine any change in results from those obtained at 6 weeks. Exclusion criteria will include any inflammatory or serious medical condition.

Knee OA will be documented by radiographic examination using the Kellgren-Lawrence scale. Symptomatic OA will be defined as the need to take NSAIDs daily and LequesneAlgofunctional Index (LFI)score > 4. Clinical assessment will be include: Visual Analogue Pain Scale (VAS, 0-100), self-reported physical function as measured with the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), WOMAC pain and stiffness scores, and six-minute walk distance (6MWD). All patients will undergo a physical examination and will be questioned about the number of flares, pain and analgesic use. Blood samples will be collected and serum levels of IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha and hsCRP will be measured in all patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

125

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Egypt
      • Alexandria, Egypt, 00203
        • Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and above with primary knee OA diagnosed according to the ACR criteria for diagnosis of primary OA of the knee

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any inflammatory or serious medical condition

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Drug: Placebo
Experimental: prednisolone
Drug: Prednisolone
low dose, 7.5 mg/day

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain reduction
Time Frame: 6 weeks
The primary outcome measure was pain reduction.
6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Reduction in systemic inflammation and improvements in physical functioning scores.
Time Frame: 6 weeks
6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Alexandria

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 12, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 13, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

June 14, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 14, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 13, 2012

Last Verified

June 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • alexmed11662452

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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