A Multicentre Comparison of Flurbiprofen and Naproxen in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Four-Week Study in 118 Patients

Abstract

One-hundred and eighteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis were treated for 4 weeks with flurbiprofen 300 mg/day (sixty patients) or naproxen 750 mg/day (fifty-eight patients) in a six-centre randomized trial. Flurbiprofen proved to be more effective than naproxen in reducing morning stiffness (p less than 0.01), Ritchie articular index (p less than 0.01) and number of swollen joints (p less than 0.05) and in relieving night pain (p less than 0.01). The incidence and severity of side-effects, mainly gastric, were both low and similar with flurbiprofen (17%) and naproxen (19%).