The Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of Oral Colchicine in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trails

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral colchicine in the treatment for knee OA. Design. Meta-analysis. Data Sources. Embase, PubMed (MEDLINE), the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception to December 12, 2021. Study Selection. RCTs comparing colchicine with placebo for knee OA were included. No language or date restrictions were applied. Two authors abstracted data and determined quality. Outcomes of interest included VAS-pain, WOMAC total index, and patient-reported adverse events. Results. A total of five RCTs including 400 adult patients with OA met the inclusion criteria. The mean age of patients included was 56.05 years (range 21 to 79), and 80.87% were female. There was no difference in VAS-pain (MD -1.49; 95% CI -3.15, 0.17; p=0.08) when compared colchicine group with placebo group. And there was no statistically difference in WOMAC total index (std. MD -0.13; 95% CI -0.64, 0.38; p=0.61) and patient report adverse events (RR 1.23; 95% CI 0.72, 2.11; p=0.46). Conclusion. Colchicine is not currently recommended as a treatment for knee OA but might have insignificant effect. The conclusion is limited due to the variation in assessment indicator among available data. Further RCTs with larger sample size and longer follow-up are needed to confirm the findings.