title: [Clinical significance of arthritis treatment guidelines revealed by outpatients prescriptions].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the current status of osteoarthritis medications of outpatients for arthritis treatment guidelines, and provide references for the promotion and popularization of traditional Chinese and western medicine in treatment of arthritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The outpatient prescriptions for the treatment of osteoarthritis from all the rheumatology and orthopedics specialists from 2007 February to May in Peking University People's Hospital were chosen and analyzed statistically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were a total of 2 145 osteoarthritis prescription in this study, including 8 categories: joint lubricants, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), local anesthetics, cartilage protective agent, adrenal corticosteroids, vitamin AD, analgesic drugs and traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese medicines were among the drugs with the most species amounted up to 35. The most common route of medication was oral administration (73.2%), which was used more in the department of rheumatology and immunology than in orthopedics. And in oral drugs, the biggest consumption was NSAIDs, accounting for 29.9%. There was no significantly difference between the rheumatology and orthopedic specialists when using non-specific cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors. But orthopedic specialists prescribed more COX-1 specific inhibitor than rheumatology specialists.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recently the arthritis treatment guidelines have been issued one after another. Many experts have already accepted the treatment of pain. However, in the implementation, the large differences still exist. The use of the Chinese medicine is still very chaotic; there are no clear-cut norms to be followed. Therefore, the implementation of the arthritis treatment guidelines and treatments of arthritis by traditional Chinese medicine are urgent to be standardized.
authors.affiliation: Arthritis Clinic and Research Center, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhi-chang
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jian-hao
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Hou-shan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lv
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000368:Aged; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010045:Outpatients; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal