A double-blind, parallel group study was carried out in 61 patients suffering from acute
gouty arthritis to compare the effectiveness of
etodolac and
naproxen in the relief of symptoms. Patients were allocated at random to receive either 300 mg
etodolac twice daily (31 patients) or 500 mg
naproxen twice daily (30 patients) for 7 days. Both groups were comparable for sex, age and weight of patients, but there was a tendency for patients in the
etodolac group to have more severe
gout as shown by baseline clinical assessment scores. The variables assessed on entry and on Days 2, 4 and 7 of treatment were
pain intensity, swelling, tenderness,
erythema, joint heat, range of motion, and physician's and patients' overall evaluation of the condition. The results showed that there was a significant improvement from baseline in all of the variables at each time point in both treatment groups. However, more
etodolac-treated patients (81%) than
naproxen-treated patients (53%) showed overall improvement at Day 2, and
etodolac was significantly better than
naproxen on the Day 2 evaluation of joint swelling and at the Day 4 evaluations of joint tenderness, range of motion and the physician's global assessment. At the final evaluation on Day 7, 97% of the
etodolac group reported that their condition had improved as compared to 93% of the
naproxen group. Both drugs were well tolerated and only a few mild side-effects were reported.