Hong Kong—Oral prednisolone and indomethacin had similar analgesic effectiveness among patients with acute gout, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers from several Hong Kong hospitals determined that prednisolone is an effective and safe first-line option for treatment of the painful condition. They reached that conclusion after a double-blind, randomized equivalence trial, where 416 adult participants received either indomethacin or prednisolone. With analgesic effectiveness defined as changes in pain—at rest or with activity—greater than 13 mm on a 100-mm visual analogue scale, equivalent and clinically significant within-group reductions in mean pain score were observed with indomethacin and prednisolone in the emergency department within 2 hours and from Days 1 to 14.

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