SynthesisClinical rheumatology2016
Topical diclofenac therapy for osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Clinical rheumatology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of different topical diclofenac formulations for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis of short-term and long-term treatment comparisons.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical Practice Guidelines for Topical NSAIDs in the Treatment of Sports Injuries.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2025Guideline
- The efficiency and safety of steroid addition to multimodal cocktail periarticular injection in knee joint arthroplasty: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Scientific reports · 2019Pooled it
- Safety of Topical Non-steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Osteoarthritis: Outcomes of a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Drugs & aging · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- The effect of DMSO on Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast with different energy metabolism and antioxidant status.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Overview of Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Nociceptive Effects of Polyphenols to Halt Osteoarthritis: From Preclinical Studies to New Clinical Insights.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Progress in osteoarthritis research by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.Bone research · 2022Review
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of Thai Medicinal Plant-4 Cream versus Diclofenac Gel in the Management of Symptomatic Osteoarthritis of the Knee.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Comprehensive Review of Topical Analgesics for Chronic Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2021Review
- Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Yellow Oil Formulations 3 and 4 versus Indomethacin Solution in Patients with Symptomatic Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
- DMSO induces drastic changes in human cellular processes and epigenetic landscape in vitro.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Importance of the formulation in the skin delivery of topical diclofenac: not all topical diclofenac formulations are the same.Journal of pain research · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of topical diclofenac therapy for osteoarthritis (OA). A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted. A comprehensive literature search, covering the databases of Medline, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and EMBASE, was conducted in September 2014 to identify the randomized controlled trials which adopted the topical diclofenac therapy for OA. A total of nine papers were included in this meta-analysis. Topical diclofenac appears to be effective in both pain relief (standard mean differences (SMD) = 0.40; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.19 to 0.62; P = 0.0003) and function improvement (SMD = 0.23; 95 % CI 0.03 to 0.43; P = 0.03) when compared with the control group. The sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis showed that the result of pain intensity was stable and reliable, while the result of physical function improvement was vague. With respect to safety, topical diclofenac demonstrated a higher incidence of adverse events such as dry skin, rash, dermatitis, neck pain, and withdrawal. Topical diclofenac is effective in pain relief as a treatment of OA. It may also have a potential effect in function improvement, which needs further studies to be explored. Although, some adverse effects were observed in the application of topical diclofenac, none of them was serious.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.