ReviewCurrent reviews in musculoskeletal medicine2025
Do Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) Adversely Impact Fracture Healing? A Critical Review of the Literature.
Review in Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effect of photobiomodulation on pain relief and functional improvement in fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Article
- Comparative effects of thiocolchicoside and etodolac on fracture healing in a rat femur model.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2026Article
- Effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on union, opioid utilization, and pain management for tibial fractures (NSAID Trial): a pragmatic randomized clinical trial protocol.OTA international : the open access journal of orthopaedic trauma · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose of reviewThe purpose of this review was to critically appraise the literature and establish an evidence-based clinical guideline for the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in a fracture setting. RECENT
findingsWith few exceptions, studies in animals suggest that NSAIDs impair fracture healing. It is unclear if nonselective or cyclooxygenase-(COX)2-selective NSAIDs pose differing effects on fracture healing. Human studies show NSAID use to be a consistent risk factor for fracture non-union in skeletally mature populations across the literature and indicates that indomethacin in particular poses a significant risk for non-union of adult acetabular fractures. Current evidence appears to suggest no harm in using ketorolac or ibuprofen in a pediatric fracture population, while indomethacin poses a significant risk for non-union in adult acetabular fracture patients when used for six weeks. Despite the majority of available clinical studies showing NSAID use as a recurring risk factor for fracture non-union in adult populations, a lack of standardization amongst studies makes it difficult to determine any clinical recommendations about timing, dosage, duration, or type of agent administered. More high-quality prospective studies are needed.
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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.