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We have few effective therapies for people with hand osteoarthritis (OA); nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, other analgesics, and splints are only modestly effective. Because accumulating evidence points to an inflammatory component in OA, researchers in the Netherlands examined the effectiveness of short-term prednisolone in 92 patients with symptomatic hand OA. All patients had four or more distal and proximal interphalangeal joints involved, with at least one joint having soft tissue swelling and erythema, and an overall pain score ≥30 on a 100-point visual analog scale.
Patients were randomized to receive 10 mg of prednisolone or placebo daily for 6 weeks, followed by a 2-week taper. At 6 weeks (before drug tapering), finger pain had…