Clinical therapeutic effects of combined diacerein and glucosamine in the treatment of osteoarthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) has been identified as a common musculoskeletal condition. As a chronic condition, OA adversely impact the hip and knee joints. Surgical treatment for hip and knee osteoarthritis is associated with high financial and long recovery processes. Therefore, patients are continually searching for alternative methods of treatment. Diacerein is regarded as symptom-modifying, slow-acting drug that could most likely change the disease structure of OA. The present systematic review protocol explains methods utilized to evaluate the clinical therapeutic effects of combining diacerein and glucosamine to treat OA. METHODS: The authors will conduct a search for randomized controlled trials comparing diacerein plus glucosamine with diacerein alone, glucosamine alone, or another treatment in patients with OA. The search will be done in the following online-based databases: EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang Database. All related RCTs included from inception to September 29, 2021 are included. Two authors will independently conduct data abstraction and quality assessment, and the comparative analysis will compare the results. The present meta-analysis will be performed with the RevMan software (version 5.3), where the results will be expressed as relative risk, mean differences, or standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: This study will be conducted to evaluate the clinical therapeutic effects of combined diacerein and glucosamine in the treatment of OA. CONCLUSION: The summary presented in the study will ascertain whether diacerein plus glucosamine intervention is an efficient and feasible method of treatment for OA patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: 10.17605/OSF.IO/VHPZC