Italian survey on the use of anti-inflammatory drugs in osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common painful arthritic disease in adults, causes severe disability and worsens the quality of life of the patients. The aim of this survey, carried out on 147 Italian orthopedic doctors who attended an ISIAT (International Symposium Intra Articular Treatment) educational course in Barcelona, was to investigate some aspects of daily clinical practice in the management of OA: the most used pharmacological treatments, compliance to the most important Guidelines, the advantages of COXIBs in this setting and pharmacoeconomic aspects. The main results of this survey are: a) inflammation has become the main target in OA; b) Guidelines are a useful and valid tool for daily clinical practice; c) acetaminophen is no longer a valid therapeutical option for OA patients; d) anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs and COXIBs) have a primary role in the management of OA, due to their dual activity (anti-inflammatory and analgesic); e) selectivity of COXIBs for COX-2 is very important; f) within the COXIB class, the therapeutic value of etoricoxib has been widely recognized, especially in terms of safety and cost/benefit ratio.