No significant difference was found between the glucosamine, and placebo group in mean pain intensity scores for resting and walking, and degree of knee swelling at the 7-day, 14-day, 21-day, and 28-day assessment. There was no significant difference between passive knee flexibility at the 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day assessment. After 28 days of treatment the patients from the glucosamine group demonstrated significant improvement in knee flexion and extension as compared with the placebo group.

The findings of this study indicate that a combination of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine hydrochloride was more effective than placebo in treating KBD.

This report documents characteristic findings in these patients. Diclofenac sodium, naproxen, and glucosamine hydrochloride produced substantial improvements over baseline in pain relief, physical function, and daily self-care activities in these open observations of adult patients with KBD.

As a symptom modifier in OA patients with a wide range of pain severities, glucosamine sulphate was no more effective than placebo.

Compared with placebo, glucosamine, chondroitin, and their combination do not reduce joint pain or have an impact on narrowing of joint space. Health authorities and health insurers should not cover the costs of these preparations, and new prescriptions to patients who have not received treatment should be discouraged.

Further research is necessary to confirm the long term effectiveness and toxicity of glucosamine therapy in OA. Most of the trials reviewed only evaluated the Rotta preparation of glucosamine sulfate. It is not known whether different glucosamine preparations prepared by different manufacturers are equally effective in the therapy of OA.

Glu, MSM and their combination produced an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect in osteoarthritis. Combination therapy showed better efficacy in reducing pain and swelling and in improving the functional ability of joints than the individual agents. All the treatments were well tolerated. The onset of analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity was found to be more rapid with the combination than with Glu. It can be concluded that the combination of MSM with Glu provides better and more rapid improvement in patients with osteoarthritis.

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate alone or in combination did not reduce pain effectively in the overall group of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Exploratory analyses suggest that the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate may be effective in the subgroup of patients with moderate-to-severe knee pain. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00032890.).

Glucosamine was no better than placebo in reducing pain from osteoarthritis of the knee in this group of patients.

Heterogeneity among trials of glucosamine is larger than would be expected by chance. Glucosamine hydrochloride is not effective. Among trials with industry involvement, effect sizes were consistently higher. Potential explanations include different glucosamine preparations, inadequate allocation concealment, and industry bias.

In this 6-month controlled study of knee OA, Ayurvedic formulations (especially SGCG) significantly reduced knee pain and improved knee function and were equivalent to glucosamine and celecoxib. The unexpected SGPT rise requires further safety assessment.

In this short-term randomized comparison, glucosamine sulfate with potassium salt (GS-K) is as effective in pain relief and as safe as glucosamine sulfate with sodium salt (GS-Na) for treatment of mild and moderate degree knee osteoarthritis.

Long-term treatment with glucosamine sulfate retarded the progression of knee osteoarthritis, possibly determining disease modification.

Our results suggest that although glucosamine appears to be safe, it is no more effective than placebo in treating the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.

Our study demonstrates the structural efficacy of glucosamine and indistinguishable symptomatic efficacies for both compounds. Regarding the relatively sparse data on glucosamine and joint space narrowing and the absence of data on structural effects of chondroitin, further studies are needed to investigate the relationship among time, dose, patient baseline characteristics, and structural efficacy for an accurate, disease-modifying characterization of these 2 compounds.

Similarly, patients given glucosamine sulphate experienced earlier alleviation of symptoms compared with those who had placebo. The use of glucosamine sulphate also resulted in a significantly larger proportion of patients who experienced lessening or disappearance of symptoms within the trial period. No adverse reactions were reported by the patients treated with glucosamine, and no variation in laboratory tests was recorded.

The findings of this study indicate that glucosamine sulfate at the oral once-daily dosage of 1,500 mg is more effective than placebo in treating knee OA symptoms. Although acetaminophen also had a higher responder rate compared with placebo, it failed to show significant effects on the algofunctional indexes.

The long-term combined structure-modifying and symptom-modifying effects of gluosamine sulphate suggest that it could be a disease modifying agent in osteoarthritis.

There was no significant difference in pain reduction between the glucosamine hydrochloride and placebo groups as measured by WOMAC. However, the secondary endpoints of cumulative pain reduction as measured by daily diary and knee examination were favorable, suggesting that glucosamine hydrochloride benefits some patients with knee OA.

This update includes 20 studies with 2570 patients. Pooled results from studies using a non-Rotta preparation or adequate allocation concealment failed to show benefit in pain and WOMAC function while those studies evaluating the Rotta preparation show that glucosamine was superior to placebo in the treatment of pain and functional impairment resulting from symptomatic OA. WOMAC outcomes of pain, stiffness and function did not show a superiority of glucosamine over placebo for both Rotta and non-Rotta preparations of glucosamine. Glucosamine was as safe as placebo.

Trials of glucosamine and chondroitin preparations for OA symptoms demonstrate moderate to large effects, but quality issues and likely publication bias suggest that these effects are exaggerated. Nevertheless, some degree of efficacy appears probable for these preparations.

Compared with placebo, glucosamine, chondroitin, and their combination do not reduce joint pain or have an impact on narrowing of joint space. Health authorities and health insurers should not cover the costs of these preparations, and new prescriptions to patients who have not received treatment should be discouraged.

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate alone or in combination did not reduce pain effectively in the overall group of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Exploratory analyses suggest that the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate may be effective in the subgroup of patients with moderate-to-severe knee pain. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00032890.).

Heterogeneity among trials of glucosamine is larger than would be expected by chance. Glucosamine hydrochloride is not effective. Among trials with industry involvement, effect sizes were consistently higher. Potential explanations include different glucosamine preparations, inadequate allocation concealment, and industry bias.

It is concluded that glucosamine sulfate may be a safe and effective symptomatic Slow Acting Drug for OA.

Long-term treatment with glucosamine sulfate retarded the progression of knee osteoarthritis, possibly determining disease modification.

Our results suggest that although glucosamine appears to be safe, it is no more effective than placebo in treating the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis.

Our study demonstrates the structural efficacy of glucosamine and indistinguishable symptomatic efficacies for both compounds. Regarding the relatively sparse data on glucosamine and joint space narrowing and the absence of data on structural effects of chondroitin, further studies are needed to investigate the relationship among time, dose, patient baseline characteristics, and structural efficacy for an accurate, disease-modifying characterization of these 2 compounds.

The findings of this study indicate that glucosamine sulfate at the oral once-daily dosage of 1,500 mg is more effective than placebo in treating knee OA symptoms. Although acetaminophen also had a higher responder rate compared with placebo, it failed to show significant effects on the algofunctional indexes.