BMJ 2003;326:334 ( 8 February )

Letters

Systematic review of celecoxib for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

    Problems compromise review's validity
    Celecoxib's relative gastrointestinal safety is overstated
    Authors' reply

Problems compromise review's validity

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Deeks et al say that celecoxib has improved gastrointestinal safety and tolerability compared with traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).1 We have several concerns.

Firstly, Deeks et al reported the papers by Bensen et al, Zhao et al (1999), Simon et al, and Zhao et al (2000) as if they referred to four different trials.1 The papers by Bensen et al and Zhao et al (1999) were, however, merely duplicate reports of one trial, whereas the papers by Simon et al and Zhao et al (2000) reported in duplicate on another trial. Deeks et al either included the same data more than once or mixed up unpublished data with unrelated publications.

Secondly, Deeks et al report similar relative risks for ulcer complications observed after six months in CLASS's two trials2: 0.54 (95% confidence interval 0.20 to 1.47) for study 035 (celecoxib v ibuprofen) and 0.56 (0.19 to 1.66) for study 102 (celecoxib v diclofenac), . . . [Full text of this article]
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