RESUMEN
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is most common form of arthritis; also referred as degenerative joint disease or “wear and tear” arthritis. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors are effective for pain and inflammation in OA and gained importance over conventional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs), as causes significantly less toxicity, particularly, in gastrointestinal tract. The objective of the present research was to study the short-term comparative clinical efficacy of aceclofenac and etoricoxib in patients with osteoarthritis and to compare the safety profile of the two drugs i.e. aceclofenac and etoricoxib.Methods: The present study was a prospective, open label, parallel, intention to treat 80 patients out of 102 screened for osteoarthritis in the Department of Orthopaedics, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital attached to the Government Medical College, Amritsar. Patients were randomly divided in two groups with 40 patients each. Group A patients received Tab etoricoxib 60mg once daily and Group B patients received Tab. Aceclofenac 100mg twice daily. Patients were followed up after three weeks and at six weeks for clinical efficacy and safety.Results: Both the groups found to have significant improvement in signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis. However, aceclofenac was superior to etoricoxib in terms of change in visual analogue scale score, osteoarthritic severity index, patients’ and physicians’ global assessment while, etoricoxib was superior in terms of WOMAC osteoarthritic index and safety parameters in terms of ADR.Conclusions: Etoricoxib was better than conventional NSAIDs for the symptomatic management of osteoarthritis in terms of safety profile and clinical efficacy.
RESUMEN
Background: Fixed-dose combinations of Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and Long acting beta agonist (LABA) are established and widely used treatment for bronchial asthma when ICSs as monotherapy are ineffective. This study attempted to compare the efficacy of salmeterol and fluticasone with formoterol (newer LABA) and fluticasone in patients of bronchial asthma.Methods: An open label, randomized, prospective, parallel and comparative study of eight-week duration was conducted on 80 patients of bronchial asthma, with the collaboration of Department of pharmacology and Department of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases Hospital, Government medical college, Amritsar. Patients in Group A were treated with 2 actuations of Formoterol and Fluticasone (6/125µg) twice daily and group B patients were treated with 2 actuations of Salmeterol and Fluticasone (50/125µg) twice daily for 8 weeks with metered dose inhaler (MDI). Patients in group A and B were assessed on day zero, 4 weeks and 8 weeks for clinical assessment and computerized spirometry for FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC and PEFR.Results: In group A mean±SD of FEV1 statistically significantly increased (<0.001) after eight week of therapy (1.50±0.12) from its baseline values (1.34±0.11). Similarly, in group B mean ± SD of FEV1 statistically significantly increased (<0.001) after eight weeks (1.48±0.13) from its baseline values (1.36±0.12). There was statistically significant (<0.001) improvement in other parameters of spirometry in patients of both the groups.Conclusions: It was observed that both the combination of Fluticasone + Formoterol and Fluticasone + Salmeterol are effective in the treatment of bronchial asthma.