New guidelines for hand osteoarthritis

doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7593.560-b

BMJ 2007;334:560 (17 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7593.560-b

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New guidelines for hand osteoarthritis

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Evidence based recommendations for treating hand osteoarthritishave been published by the European League Against Rheumatism.A 21 strong international guideline development group, including16 rheumatologists, searched databases for acceptable trials,finding 309 studies of treatment of hand osteoarthritis in humans.

The systematic search was followed by a Delphi exercise thatnegotiated 11 propositions involving 17 treatment modules. Ingeneral, the paucity of clinical trials meant that levels ofevidence were low (expert committee reports or opinion) exceptfor topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),topical capsaicin, low dose short duration oral NSAIDs, and,possibly, intra-articular corticosteroids for painful flaresin the trapeziometacarpal joint.

The group highlighted eight areas for future research.

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