Zinc sulphate in rheumatoid arthritis

Mattingly PC, Mowat AG · Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

NULL: over 6 months no measured parameter — pain, morning stiffness, articular index, grip strength, ESR — changed significantly in either group, and the one within-group change (ring size) did not differ between zinc and placebo; the only significant zinc-specific change was a rise in alkaline phosphatase.

Population

Patients with active rheumatoid arthritis uncontrolled by NSAIDs (14 zinc, 13 placebo; 21 completed)

Intervention

Zinc sulphate 220 mg three times daily for 6 months (same dose as Simkin 1976)

Comparator

Identical placebo capsules

Limitations

Small (21 completers) and RA, not OA; placebo group somewhat more severely affected at baseline; full text read.