Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22843170›Full record

Trial reportClinical rheumatology2012

The effect of sulphurous water in patients with osteoarthritis of hand. Double-blind, randomized, controlled follow-up study.

Csaba Kovács, Mariann Pecze, Ágnes Tihanyi, Lajos Kovács, Sándor Balogh, Tamás Bender

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Clinical rheumatology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
10.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.

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  20. Challenges of blinding in clinical balneology trials: a scoping review.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Csaba KovácsMusculoskeletal Rehabilitation Center, Mezőkövesd, Mezőkövesd, Hungary.
Mariann Pecze
Ágnes Tihanyi
Lajos Kovács
Sándor Balogh
Tamás Bender

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The aim of the study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of sulphurous water in patients with osteoarthritis of the hand. Forty-seven patients with osteoarthritis of the hand were enrolled into the double-blind, randomized, controlled study, satisfying ACR criteria. One group of the patients (n = 24) received balneotherapy, bathing in sulphurous thermal water for 20 min per occasion, 15 times in all during a period of 3 weeks. The control group (n = 21) had a bath exclusively in warm tap water. Assessments were carried out in both groups on four occasions: at the beginning and at the end of the treatment, and 3 and 6 months after the beginning of the treatment. The parameters studied were the following: pain in the hand, morning stiffness in the joints, grip strength of both hands, and Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ) and AUSCAN Hand Osteoarthritis Index and EuroQol quality of life questionnaire. At the end of treatment, the improvement was more pronounced in the patient group treated with the sulphurous water. After 3 months, significant improvement could be detected in all parameters, except the morning stiffness and EQ5D. After 6 months, the values of pain, HAQ and AUSCAN continued to be significantly better in comparison with the baseline values. The improvement in quality of life was significant only at the end of the treatment, 6 months later not any longer. The difference between the two groups was significant after 3 months in point of pain and EQVAS. Balneotherapy and within this the sulphurous spa water alone may be effective for the attenuation of pain in patients with hand osteoarthrosis.

Indexed as

Hand JointsSulfurAgedBalneologyDisability EvaluationDouble-Blind MethodFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHand StrengthHumansMaleMiddle AgedMineral WatersOsteoarthritisQuality of LifeSurveys and QuestionnairesMineral WatersSulfur

Identifiers

PMID22843170
OpenAlexW2055715421

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.