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Current standard treatments for gout (colchicine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs]) can have significant side effects. In a randomized, double-blind trial, Dutch researchers compared treatment with either oral naproxen (500 mg twice daily) or oral prednisolone (35 mg once daily plus placebo) for 5 days in 120 patients (89% men; mean age, 57) with microscopically confirmed monoarticular gout. Patients were referred by their family doctors within 24 hours of initial presentation. Another 96 patients with microscopically confirmed gout were excluded, mostly because of current use of NSAIDs or colchicine or contraindications to NSAIDs.
At 90 hours, mean reductions in pain (assessed on a validated visual analog scale [VAS]) were s…