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Naproxen: Corticosteroid‐Sparing Effect in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Author(s) -
FLORES JORGE J. BADIA,
ROJAS SERGIO VALDEZ
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
the journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1552-4604
pISSN - 0091-2700
DOI - 10.1002/j.1552-4604.1975.tb01467.x
Subject(s) - naproxen , rheumatoid arthritis , medicine , corticosteroid , arthritis , pharmacology , pathology , alternative medicine
Ambulatory patients with a diagnosis of "classical" or "definite" active adult rheumatoid arthritis were selected. They had been stabilized for at least six months previously with oral administration of paramethasone acetate plus various analgesics and/or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents. During an initial period of two to five weeks, the paramethasone dosage was adjusted and other medications replaced by placebo to find the minimum required to keep the patient at a level similar to the one at the beginning of the study. Subsequently, with the double-blind method, the effect of 400 mg naproxen daily was compared with placebo, making periodic and progressive reductions in the corticosteroid dosage, unknown to the patient, until a tolerable minimum was found. The average total observation time was 14 weeks. Results obtained in the first 28 patients showed an average reduction of 57 per cent in paramethasone dose for the group treated with naproxen, versus 21 per cent for the control group. One patient experienced euphoria which could possibly have been related to the test drug. It is concluded that naproxen possesses a significant corticosteroid-sparing effect with negligible toxicity.