Aceclofenac is better tolerated than diclofenac, researchers have found.
An open-label, observational study compared the incidence of adverse events
of aceclofenac with diclofenac in patients with rheumatic disease. In total,
7,890 patients received 100mg aceclofenac twice a day and 2,252 patients received
75mg sustained-release diclofenac twice a day for a year.
Dyspepsia, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea were significantly more common
among patients treated with diclofenac than among those treated with aceclofenac.
More patients in the diclofenac group discontinued therapy compared with the
aceclofenac group (64 and 59 per cent, respectively) and there were more withdrawals
because of adverse events in the diclofenac group (19 per cent) than in the
aceclofenac group (14 per cent).
The study’s authors say that aceclofenac was associated with a significantly
better gastrointestinal adverse event profile than diclofenac, despite the fact
that patients receiving aceclofenac had a higher incidence of previous gastrointestinal
symptoms than diclofenac recipients (European Journal of Rheumatology and Inflammation
2000;17:1).