The effect of glucosamine sulphate on structural disease progression in knee osteoarthritis

Funded Activity Summary

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint disease characterized by a progressive loss of cartilage and joint space resulting in increasing pain and difficulty performing usual daily activities. OA is the leading health problem amongst older Australians and a National Health Priority area. There is no known cure for OA and no intervention demonstrated to slow disease progression or delay time to joint replacement surgery. Currently patients are managed symptomatically with all clinical guidelines recommending paracetamol as 'the preferred long term oral analgesic'. This recommendation is based on the increased risk of serious gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and renal diseases with long-term NSAIDs use in older people. However, NSAIDs appear to provide better pain relief for patients with more than mild joint pain. Amongst patients with OA, there is much demand for the dietary supplement glucosamine sulphate. Product marketing has led to the belief that glucosamine is able to slow the rate of joint destruction and cartilage loss and help ease joint pain with, in contrast to NSAIDs, little risk of side effects. However, the few trials conducted to date have been inconclusive. If the marketing claims are unjustified, many older people are wasting limited financial resources and due to unrealistic expectations of the benefit of glucosamine, placing a lower priority on lifestyle changes of proven effectiveness, such as regular exercise and weight loss. A total of 900 patients with knee OA will be randomly allocated to glucosamine sulphate or matching placebo capsules for two years. The main outcomes will be the rate of joint space narrowing, use of NSAIDs and physical disability. If glucosamine results in slowing disease progression or in reducing NSAIDs consumption, the widespread use of this product would effectively decrease pain, disability and NSAIDs-related illnesses amongst the increasing number of people with OA.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2006

End Date: 01-01-2011

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $1,250,214.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Primary Health Care

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Activity related joint pain | Complementary medicine | General Practice | NSAIDs | Older people | Older persons and functional decline | Osteoarthritis | Quality of life | Randomized controlled trial | Secondary prevention

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