JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the top five most disabling conditions and it affects more than one third of persons over 65 years of age. Currently 80% of persons affected by OA already report having some movement limitation, 20% of people are not be able to perform major activities of daily living, and about 11% of the total affected population need of personal care. On 2014 the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO) suggested as first step of pharmacological treatment for knee OA a background therapy with chronic symptomatic slow-acting drugs for osteoarthritis (SYSADOAs), such as glucosamine sulphate, chondroitin sulphate and hyaluronic acid (HA). In studies with oral HA, symptoms of OA are often measured using subjective parameters such as the visual analog scale (VAS) or the quality of life questionnaire (QoL) and objective measurements as ultrasonography (US) or range of motion (ROM) are employed in very few trials. This affects the quality of data in the literature.

Objective:

The primary objective of this work is to assess the feasibility of implementing US and ROM as objective measurements to correlate the improvement of knee mobility with pain reduction, evaluated using a subjective scale (VAS) in patients assuming a nutraceutical containing HA. The secondary objective is to evaluate the enrollment rate in one month to verify the feasibility for time and budget of the planned future main study. The explorative objective of the trial is to obtain preliminary data on efficacy of the tested product.

Methods:

This open-label pilot trial is performed in an orthopedic clinic (Timisoara, Romania). Male and female subjects (from 50 to 70 years) diagnosed with symptomatic OA of the knee with mild joint discomfort for at least 6 months are included. Following protocol, 8 patients are administered for 8 weeks Syalox® 300 Plus (River Pharma, Italy), a product based on HA of high molecular weight. Baseline and final visit assessments include orthopedic assessment, US, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) questionnaire, VAS and ROM of knee.

Results:

Data collection occurred between February 2018 and June 2018. All results are expected to be available by the end of 2018.

Conclusions:

This pilot trial will be the first study to analyze the potential correlation between subjective evaluation (VAS, KOOS questionnaire) and objective measurements (US, ROM and actigraphy). The data from this study will assess the feasibility of the planned monthly recruitment rate and the necessary time and budget, and should provide preliminary information on efficacy of the tested product. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT number: NCT03421054).