Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28533290›Full record

Trial reportAnnals of the rheumatic diseases2017

Pharmaceutical-grade Chondroitin sulfate is as effective as celecoxib and superior to placebo in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: the ChONdroitin versus CElecoxib versus Placebo Trial (CONCEPT).

Jean-Yves Reginster, Jean Dudler, Tomasz Blicharski, Karel Pavelka

Open access · hybridAbstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
10.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

42 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.

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  2. Low dose NSAIDs and sysadoas in the management of knee osteoarthritis.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Jean-Yves ReginsterDepartment of Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Liège State University, Liège, Belgium.
Jean DudlerHFR Fribourg, Hôpital Cantonal, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Tomasz BlicharskiLublin Medical University, Åšwidnik, Poland.
Karel PavelkaInstitute of Rheumatology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Charles University · CZHôpital Nestlé · CHMedical University of Lublin · PLUniversity of Liège · BE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesChondroitin sulfate 800 mg/day (CS) pharmaceutical-grade in the management of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis consistent with the European Medicines Agency guideline.

methodsA prospective, randomised, 6-month, 3-arm, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo and celecoxib (200 mg/day)-controlled trial assessing changes in pain on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and in the Lequesne Index (LI) as coprimary endpoints. Minimal-Clinically Important Improvement (MCII), Patient-Acceptable Symptoms State (PASS) were used as secondary endpoints.

results604 patients (knee osteoarthritis) diagnosed according to American College of Rheumalogy (ACR) criteria, recruited in five European countries and followed for 182 days. CS and celecoxib showed a greater significant reduction in pain and LI than placebo. In the intention-to-treat (ITT) population, pain reduction in VAS at day 182 in the CS group (-42.6 mm) and in celecoxib group (-39.5 mm) was significantly greater than the placebo group (-33.3 mm) (p=0.001 for CS and p=0.009 for celecoxib), while no difference observed between CS and celecoxib. Similar trend for the LI, as reduction in this metric in the CS group (-4.7) and celecoxib group (-4.6) was significantly greater than the placebo group (-3.7) (p=0.023 for CS and p=0.015 for celecoxib), no difference was observed between CS and celecoxib. Both secondary endpoints (MCII and PASS) at day 182 improved significantly in the CS and celecoxib groups. All treatments demonstrated excellent safety profiles.

conclusionA 800 mg/day pharmaceutical-grade CS is superior to placebo and similar to celecoxib in reducing pain and improving function over 6 months in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. This formulation of CS should be considered a first-line treatment in the medical management of knee OA.

Indexed as

AgedCelecoxibChondroitin SulfatesCyclooxygenase 2 InhibitorsDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedOsteoarthritis, KneePain MeasurementTreatment OutcomeCelecoxibChondroitin SulfatesCyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitorschondroitin sulfatefunctionknee osteoarthritispaintreatment

Identifiers

PMID28533290
PMCPMC5561371
OpenAlexW2618196413

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.