Patients prefer drug safety to effectiveness
Many patients with knee osteoarthritis are willing to forgo treatment effectiveness for a lower risk of side effects.
Liana Fraenkel, assistant professor of internal medicine and rheumatology
at Yale school of medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues interviewed
100 patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis about their treatment
preferences. The researchers examined the relative importance of factors
such as administration, risks, benefits and cost. Treatment options with
these factors were described to patients who were then asked to rate
each treatment for preference.
The researchers found that the risk for side effects had the greatest
impact on
patients’ choice, with non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs being among the least preferred options.
Despite being described as less effective than other drug treatments,
topical capsaicin was the preferred treatment for 44 per cent of patients.
The study is published in Archives of Internal Medicine (2004;164:1299). |
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