Efficacy and safety of Curcuma domestica extracts compared with ibuprofen in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a multicenter study

Kuptniratsaikul V, Dajpratham P, Taechaarpornkul W, et al. · Clinical Interventions in Aging

Turmeric extract met the non-inferiority margin against ibuprofen at 4 weeks on WOMAC total (p=0.010), WOMAC pain (p=0.018) and WOMAC function (p=0.010), but not on WOMAC stiffness, which reached only p=0.060. Both arms improved substantially from baseline (p<0.001) and the equality tests between them were all null (p=0.278 to 0.531), as was the 6-minute walk distance. The number of patients reporting any adverse event did not differ (29.7% on turmeric, 35.7% on ibuprofen, p=0.222); among individual events only abdominal pain or distension separated, 10.8% against 18.1% (p=0.046), while dyspepsia, nausea and oedema ran numerically higher on ibuprofen without reaching significance.

Population

Adults with knee osteoarthritis, Thailand

Intervention

Curcuma domestica (turmeric) extract 1500 mg/day for 4 weeks

Comparator

Ibuprofen 1200 mg/day (no placebo arm)

Limitations

No placebo arm and only 4 weeks, so non-inferiority to ibuprofen is the whole claim. The non-inferiority analysis is per-protocol — 160 of 182 on ibuprofen and 171 of 185 on turmeric — which is the conventional choice for this design and also the one that most favours a non-inferiority verdict. Government-funded, but the extract is standardised to 75-85% curcuminoids by a hospital pharmacy and does not correspond to any Western retail product.