Abstract

A PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON COMPARISON OF ANALGESIC EFFICACY BETWEEN NSAIDS AND OPIOIDS IN OSTEOARTHRITIS PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

J.N. Suresh Kumar, A. Swetha Prthima, Juhi Kauser Shaik*, Anusha Bhavanam, Raghuram Kodavathu and Hanoku Palepogu

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a long-term chronic disease characterized by the deterioration of the cartilage occurs. Osteoarthritis is not completely curable; it can be manageable with long-term usage of drugs, due to lack of blood supply to the articular cartilage. The main objective of this study is to compare the analgesic efficacy of NSAIDs and OPIOIDs in osteoarthritis patients. Methodology: In this prospective observational study, 120 subjects have been participated. Patient information was collected using Patient data collection form. Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) was used to assess the pain severity and X – ray reports were used to assess joint space narrowing. Based on pain severity subjects were divided into 3 categories i.e., mild, moderate, severe and prescribed with NSAIDs and Opioids and reviewed for decrease in pain severity. Results: In this study a total of 120 Osteoarthritis patients prescribed with Analgesics like NSAIDs and Opioids were included. From the analysis of pain scores assessed using NPRS, on first day of visit, patients with severe pain were 68%, moderate were 29% and mild were 2% and after two follow-ups over a period of 6 months patients with severe pain were 0, moderate pain were 12.5, mild were 65% and patients with no pain were 22.5%. Conclusion: From our study we conclude that NSAIDs show more effect when prescribed in combination with Opioids than when prescribed alone as most of the patients prescribed with combination of NSAIDs and Opioid attained less severe category in early period than the patients prescribed with NSAIDs alone. As Osteoarthritis is only manageable but not curable, once the patients attain less severe stage their pain was managed with supportive medications such as Chondroprotective agents, physiotherapy to improve movement and wearing compression stockings to help with inflammation.

Keywords: Osteoarthritis, Articular cartilage, NPRS, Pain severity, NSAIDs, Opioids.