Evaluation of the Combination Therapy Effectiveness with Glucosamine Crystalline Sulfate (DONA) in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis
Research objective: to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of combination therapy with DONA (intramuscular injection and oral administration) in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint. Material and methods. The study included 200 patients with OA of the knee joint of the first-third degree according to the classification of Kellgren-Lawrence. The total duration of the study was 146 days (90 days - the period of treatment, 56 days -dynamic observation). All patients received combination therapy with DONA. Results. After 90 days from the start of therapy, statistically significant increase in the health index -from 0.26 ± 0.03 to 0.52 ± 0.03 (p < 0.01) was observed. The change in the health index during therapy corresponded to a satisfactory therapeutic effect (A EQ-5D - 0.26). A similar ratio remained eight weeks after the therapy end. In addition, after 90 days there was statistically significant improvement in the total Leken index (from 12.4 ± 0.4 to 8.8 ± 0.3 points, p < 0.001) and the decrease in pain (from 5.6 ± 0.2 to 4.2 ± 0.2 points, p < 0.01). For the other indicators (average distance walk, functional impairment) statistically significant differences were not obtained (3.2 ± 0.1 vs 2.4 ± 0.2, p = 0.05 and 3.6 ± 0.3 vs 2.2 ± 0.1, p = 0.05). Eight weeks after the end of treatment, the indicators remained stable. No adverse reactions were recorded against the background of the therapy.