Acetaminophen Less Effective Than NSAIDs for Osteoarthritis

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) was found to be less effective than NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) for the treatment of moderate to severe osteoarthritis (OA), according to a review of 15 previous studies involving 5,986 patients.

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The review was conducted by The Cochrane Collaboration. The Cochrane review revealed that:

• pain decreased by 4 more points on a scale of 0-100 for people who took acetaminophen instead of a placebo.
• pain decreased 6 more points on a scale of 0-100 for people who took NSAIDs instead of acetaminophen.
• there was not a major difference in side effects, but 19% of patients taking NSAIDs compared to 13% of patients taking acetaminopen had gastrointestinal side effects.