Intra-articular injections of ozone versus hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis: a level I meta-analysis

Migliorini F, Giorgino R, Mazzoleni MG, Schäfer L, Bertini FA, Maffulli N · European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology

Randomized trials of intra-articular ozone against hyaluronic acid, 424 patients, 74 percent of them women, mean age 61.1 years, with follow-up restricted to between 4 and 6 months. The reported result is an absence of separation: no difference in VAS at final follow-up (P = 0.4). The authors describe the two injections as achieving similar pain control across that window and grade the finding level I.

Population

Randomized controlled trials of intra-articular ozone versus hyaluronic acid in knee osteoarthritis, 424 patients, follow-up restricted to 4 to 6 months

Intervention

Intra-articular ozone injection

Comparator

Intra-articular hyaluronic acid injection

Limitations

Read from the abstract only: the publisher returns a landing page rather than the article by every route this project has, so the arms behind the pooled figure have not been checked against the paper. Follow-up shorter than 4 months or longer than 6 was excluded by design, so the review says nothing about either the early weeks, where the ozone literature places its effect, or the year mark. No structural endpoint is reported. Needs a library pull.