Efficacy and safety of curcumin therapy for knee osteoarthritis: A Bayesian network meta-analysis

Zhao J, Liang G, Zhou G, Hong K, Yang W, Liu J, Zeng L · Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Versus placebo, curcumin cut pain VAS by 1.63 points (95% CI -2.91 to -0.45) and total WOMAC by 18.85 (95% CI -29.53 to -8.76), and reduced rescue-medication use (OR 0.17). Versus NSAIDs, curcumin had fewer adverse reactions (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.94).

Population

23 RCTs from 7 countries in knee osteoarthritis, 6 interventions

Intervention

Curcumin alone or combined with NSAIDs or chondroprotective agents

Comparator

Placebo and NSAIDs, compared indirectly

Limitations

Indirect comparisons inherit the risk of bias of a trial base dominated by small, short, mostly non-independent studies; the authors say the combination-therapy ranking still needs direct confirmation.