Antibiotic Slows Joint Damage in Knees

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Antibiotic Slows Joint Damage in Knees

But it did not relieve pain of osteoarthritis, study found

THURSDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- The tetracycline antibiotic

doxycycline may slow the progression of joint damage in people with

knee osteoarthritis, researchers report in the July issue of Arthritis

& Rheumatism.

The study included 431 overweight women with moderate osteoarthritis in

one knee who were randomly assigned to receive either 100 milligrams of

doxycycline or a placebo twice a day for 30 months.

After 16 months of treatment, the people in the doxycycline group had

40 percent less mean loss of joint space within the diseased knee than

those in the placebo group. After 30 months, it was 33 percent less.

However, even though it slowed disease progression, doxycycline did not

reduce the severity of joint pain. The study also found that

doxycycline seemed to have no effect on joint space narrowing or pain

in the relatively disease-free knees of the women.

The study authors concluded that doxycycline did show benefits in

slowing the rate of joint space narrowing in knees with established

osteoarthritis. However, further research is needed to determine

whether the drug had any value in the early treatment or management of

osteoarthritis symptoms.

http://www.marrtc.org/