Overall treatment effect size (ES) and proportion attributable to contextual effects (PCEs)
| Outcome | Treatment | No. of trials | No. of patients | Overall treatment ES (95% CI) | I2% of overall treatment ES | PCE (95% CI) | I2% of PCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pain | Oral | ||||||
| Glucosamine | 19 | 2512 | 1.06 (0.85 to 1.28) | 88 | 0.67 (0.53 to 0.84) | 63 | |
| Chondroitin | 13 | 2562 | 1.29 (1.09 to 1.50) | 85 | 0.68 (0.55 to 0.84) | 67 | |
| Glucosamine + chondroitin | 4 | 778 | 0.89 (0.27 to 1.51) | 92 | 0.76 (0.62 to 0.93) | 0 | |
| Paracetamol | 7 | 2377 | 0.65 (0.46 to 0.83) | 87 | 0.87 (0.73 to 1.03) | 12 | |
| NSAID | 62 | 18 145 | 1.11 (1.02 to 1.20) | 92 | 0.70 (0.65 to 0.75) | 51 | |
| Physical/topical | |||||||
| PEMF | 18 | 1005 | 0.98 (0.75 to 1.20) | 78 | 0.80 (0.64 to 0.99) | 0 | |
| Topical NSAIDs | 20 | 4399 | 1.37 (1.19 to 1.55) | 90 | 0.85 (0.77 to 0.93) | 35 | |
| Needle/injection | |||||||
| Acupuncture | 17 | 2747 | 0.99 (0.81 to 1.18) | 85 | 0.85 (0.74 to 0.97) | 20 | |
| IACS | 9 | 502 | 0.97 (0.67 to 1.28) | 75 | 0.47 (0.32 to 0.70) | 0 | |
| IAHA | 35 | 4782 | 1.16 (1.01 to 1.31) | 87 | 0.82 (0.75 to 0.90) | 23 | |
| Surgical | |||||||
| Lavage | 4 | 434 | 0.46 (0.24 to 0.68) | 54 | 0.91 (0.60 to 1.37) | 0 | |
| Overall | 208 | 40 243 | 1.09 (1.03 to 1.14) | 90 | 0.75 (0.72 to 0.79) | 42 | |
| Function | Oral | ||||||
| Glucosamine | 20 | 2849 | 1.10 (0.88 to 1.31) | 90 | 0.64 (0.49 to 0.82) | 69 | |
| Chondroitin | 12 | 1924 | 0.98 (0.80 to 1.17) | 81 | 0.63 (0.47 to 0.85) | 61 | |
| Glucosamine+chondroitin | 5 | 1058 | 0.71 (0.32 to 1.10) | 90 | 0.85 (0.71 to 1.02) | 0 | |
| Paracetamol | 4 | 1373 | 0.73 (0.49 to 0.97) | 83 | 0.92 (0.78 to 1.09) | 0 | |
| NSAIDs | 44 | 14 613 | 1.02 (0.94 to 1.10) | 88 | 0.64 (0.59 to 0.70) | 50 | |
| Physical/topical | |||||||
| PEMF | 17 | 914 | 0.66 (0.47 to 0.84) | 69 | 0.63 (0.47 to 0.84) | 0 | |
| Topical NSAIDs | 17 | 3717 | 1.34 (1.10 to 1.58) | 93 | 0.71 (0.58 to 0.87) | 81 | |
| Needle/injection | |||||||
| Acupuncture | 12 | 2453 | 1.01 (0.78 to 1.23) | 89 | 0.85 (0.72 to 1.00) | 38 | |
| IACS | 6 | 421 | 0.62 (0.29 to 0.95) | 80 | 0.68 (0.40 to 1.18) | 0 | |
| IAHA | 25 | 3315 | 1.02 (0.87 to 1.18) | 84 | 0.84 (0.74 to 0.96) | 23 | |
| Surgical | |||||||
| Lavage | 4 | 425 | 0.47 (0.15 to 0.78) | 77 | 0.93 (0.62 to 1.40) | 0 | |
| Overall | 166 | 33 062 | 0.98 (0.93 to 1.04) | 89 | 0.71 (0.67 to 0.75) | 56 | |
| Stiffness | Oral | ||||||
| Glucosamine | 9 | 1568 | 1.20 (0.77 to 1.63) | 95 | 0.82 (0.63 to 1.05) | 39 | |
| Chondroitin | 2 | 793 | 0.48 (0.12 to 0.83) | 88 | 1.00 (0.77 to 1.30) | 0 | |
| Glucosamine+chondroitin | 2 | 707 | 0.57 (−0.05 to 1.18) | 92 | 0.91 (0.72 to 1.15) | 0 | |
| Paracetamol | 3 | 644 | 0.63 (0.31 to 0.95) | 83 | 0.95 (0.72 to 1.24) | 0 | |
| NSAIDs | 29 | 8750 | 0.91 (0.84 to 0.99) | 78 | 0.73 (0.67 to 0.80) | 20 | |
| Physical/topical | |||||||
| PEMF | 6 | 378 | 0.49 (0.22 to 0.76) | 66 | 0.71 (0.43 to 1.17) | 0 | |
| Topical NSAIDs | 10 | 2578 | 1.01 (0.80 to 1.23) | 90 | 0.93 (0.84 to 1.03) | 0 | |
| Needle/injection | |||||||
| Acupuncture | 7 | 1181 | 0.93 (0.67 to 1.20) | 80 | 0.79 (0.66 to 0.94) | 0 | |
| IACS | 3 | 168 | 0.65 (0.22 to 1.08) | 72 | 0.83 (0.34 to 2.04) | 0 | |
| IAHA | 3 | 2462 | 0.83 (0.67 to 1.00) | 82 | 0.88 (0.77 to 1.00) | 0 | |
| Surgical | |||||||
| Lavage | 2 | 267 | 0.28 (0.04 to 0.53) | 44 | 1.00 (0.46 to 2.16) | 0 | |
| Overall | 91 | 19 490 | 0.83 (0.79 to 0.87) | 87 | 0.83 (0.79 to 0.87) | 1 | |
IACS, intra-articular corticosteroid; IAHA, intra-articular hyaluronic acid; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; PEMF, pulsed-electromagnetic field therapy.