Study upholds hyaluronic acid injection safety, efficacy profile in reducing knee OA pain
New meta-analysis findings challenge conclusions of recent reviews, confirms evidence that FDA-approved hyaluronic acid injections can help improve function and pain in mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis
Raleigh-Durham, NC. -- A new meta-analysis of 29 randomized studies involving more than 4,500 patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) found that intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA) injections provided significant improvement in pain and function compared to saline injections.
The study, "US-Approved Intra-Articular Hyaluronic Acid Injections are Safe and Effective in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Saline-Controlled Trials," was published online this month in Clinical Medicine Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders and included results from randomized peer-reviewed studies of six HA injection brands, with identical treatment follow up between the treatment and control groups. The results are in contrast to the Rutjes et al (2012) paper that included data from many HA products which are not FDA approved and not available in the U.S.
"The findings of the meta-analysis are important but not unexpected. The safety data in the meta-analysis comes from studies that only used FDA-approved HAs. The data set is consistent with what I and many other physicians have clinically observed for many years – HAs have been found to be safe, can help relieve knee pain from osteoarthritis, and are appropriate treatment for people with mild to moderate forms of the disease," said Mark A. Snyder, MD, an orthopedic surgeon from the TriHealth Orthopedic and Spine Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio.
While neither HA or saline injections resulted in serious adverse events, researchers found very large treatment effects between four and 26 weeks for knee pain and function compared to pre-injection values, with standardized mean difference (SMD) values ranging from 1.07 to 1.37 (p END
The study, "US-Approved Intra-Articular Hyaluronic Acid Injections are Safe and Effective in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Saline-Controlled Trials," was published online this month in Clinical Medicine Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders and included results from randomized peer-reviewed studies of six HA injection brands, with identical treatment follow up between the treatment and control groups. The results are in contrast to the Rutjes et al (2012) paper that included data from many HA products which are not FDA approved and not available in the U.S.
"The findings of the meta-analysis are important but not unexpected. The safety data in the meta-analysis comes from studies that only used FDA-approved HAs. The data set is consistent with what I and many other physicians have clinically observed for many years – HAs have been found to be safe, can help relieve knee pain from osteoarthritis, and are appropriate treatment for people with mild to moderate forms of the disease," said Mark A. Snyder, MD, an orthopedic surgeon from the TriHealth Orthopedic and Spine Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio.
While neither HA or saline injections resulted in serious adverse events, researchers found very large treatment effects between four and 26 weeks for knee pain and function compared to pre-injection values, with standardized mean difference (SMD) values ranging from 1.07 to 1.37 (p END