N-of-1 trial: Topical treatment for painful knee osteoarthritis

Our n-of-1 trial investigating individual responses to topical ibuprofen gel or capsaicin cream for painful knee osteoarthritis and led by Dr Monica Persson is published in this month’s Rheumatology Journal.

We found the response to topical NSAIDs and capsaicin varies between individuals, but over half of people with painful knee osteoarthritis respond better to one treatment over the other. So using an effective treatment should be personalised to individual patient responses.

The n-of-1 trial series design was an excellent way to do this, allowing us to examine individual treatment responses and move away from focusing simply on treatment averages.

Thanks to Nottingham University Hospital Charity and Versus Arthritis for funding the research, and all the patient volunteers who participated in the study.

The paper ‘Individual responses to topical ibuprofen gel or capsaicin cream for painful knee osteoarthritis: a series of n-of-1 trials’ is one of several studies aiming to investigate the relative efficacy of topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and capsaicin in osteoarthritis and neuropathic pain and to identify predictors of response.