Paracetamol effective for chronic pain and arthritis

A research team from University of Queensland has just published the results of a small study into the effectiveness of medications for chronic pain.

The team surveyed patients taking paracetamol, ibuprofen and COX-2 inhibitors. 65% of patients changed medication during the study, most commonly to add paracetamol or to replace ibuprofen or COX-2 inhibitors with paracetamol.

Paracetamol was found to be as effective or more effective than ibuprofen in 68% of cases comparing those drugs. The results provide a new perspective on the recommendation of paracetamol as first-line treatment for chronic pain.

The abstract of the article in American Journal of Therapeutics is available at: Do Individualized Medication Effectiveness Tests (N-of-1 Trials) Change Clinical Decisions About Which Drugs to Use for Osteoarthritis and Chronic Pain? American Journal of Therapeutics. 12(1):92-97, January/February 2005.