Article

Patients with hand osteoarthritis are commonly treated by health care
professionals (allied to medicine). Practice should be informed by updated
evidence from systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials. PURPOSE: The
purpose of this overview is to summarize the evidence from systematic reviews of
the effectiveness of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for
patients with hand osteoarthritis. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION: Systematic
reviews published between January 2000 and October 2008 were identified by a
comprehensive literature search. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two reviewers
independently selected reviews for inclusion, assessed their methodological
quality, and extracted and synthesized data according to predefined criteria.
Four systematic reviews finally were included. Based on single randomized
controlled trials, there is some evidence of the effect of pain relief from
topical capsaicin compared with placebo and for favorable functional outcomes for
exercise and education compared with osteoarthritis information alone.
LIMITATIONS: In overviews, results are dependent on available systematic reviews.
They are important tools to guide choice of interventions and locate areas where
more research is needed, but they might not be useful for deciding specifically
how interventions should be carried out. CONCLUSIONS: There currently is
insufficient high-quality evidence regarding nonpharmacological and nonsurgical
interventions for hand osteoarthritis. Considering the limited research evidence
and the prevalence and impact of the disease, there is an urgent need for more
trials of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for hand osteoarthritis.

Langue : ANGLAIS