title: Is glucosamine effective for osteoarthritis?
abstract: Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent chronic articular disease, in which pain is one of the main symptoms and a major determinant of functional loss. Several therapeutic options have been proposed, including glucosamine, but its actual usefulness has not yet been established. To answer this question, we searched in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening multiple databases. We identified 11 systematic reviews including 35 randomized trials answering the question of interest. We extracted data, conducted a meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table using the GRADE approach. We concluded it is not clear whether glucosamine decreases pain or improves functionality in osteoarthritis because the certainty of the evidence is very low.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Proyecto Epistemonikos, Santiago, Chile. Email: sirarraz@med.puc.cl. Address: Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Diagonal Paraguay 362, Oficina 310, Santiago Centro, Chile.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harrison-Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Proyecto Epistemonikos, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rojas-Briones
authors.affiliation: Proyecto Epistemonikos, Santiago, Chile; Departamento de Traumatología, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Sebastián
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Irarrázaval
mesh_terms: D005944:Glucosamine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D005944:Glucosamine