Meta-Analysis of the Related Nutritional Supplements Dimethyl Sulfoxide and Methylsulfonylmethane in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Table 5

Meta-analysis results.

Study	Year	Design	Analyzed patients (intervention/ placebo)	Intervention	Daily Dose	Baseline pain score (mm)	End of Rx pain score (mm)	Pain outcome measure	Mean ± SE reduction from baseline with active treatment (mm) (95% CI)	Mean ± SE reduction from baseline with placebo (mm) (95% CI)	Mean Difference ± SE in pain scores between groups (mm) (95% CI) Effect Size
Eberhardt et al. [56]	1995	Single centre Double blind placebo controlled parallel	DMSO: 56 Placebo: 56	DMSO	25% DMSO gel/day 5–8 cm	DMSO = 64.3 Placebo = 64.1	DMSO = 21.6 Placebo = 33.3	Pain VAS (0–100 mm)	42.7 ± 2.34 [38.0,47.4]	30.8 ± 2.38 [26.1,35.5]	11.7 ± 3.31 [5.08,18.32] Effect = 3.53
Bookman et al. [36]	2004	Multi centre, Double blind, three arm^a comparative parallel arm	DMSO: 79 Placebo: 84	DMSO	45.5% wt/wt	DMSO = 46.5 Placebo = 47.0	DMSO = 34.0 Placebo = 34.5	WOMAC pain subscale (0–20 mm^b) (scaled up to 100 mm for comparison)	12.5 ± 2.7 [7.1,17.9]	12.5 ± 2.0 [8.5,16.5]	0.0 ± 3.35 [−6.6,6.7] Effect = 0.00
Kim et al. [43]	2006	Single centre, double blind placebo controlled parallel arm	MSM: 21 Placebo: 19	MSM	3 g/day oral	MSM = 58.0 Placebo = 55.1	MSM = 43.4 Placebo = 47.9	WOMAC pain subscale (0–100 mm)	14.6 ± 1.3 [12.0,17.2]	7.3 ± 3.3 [0.7,13.9]	7.3 ± 3.55 [0.2,14.4] Effect = 2.06
											6.34 ± 1.96 [2.41, 10.27]
	Meta-analyses (fixed effects)										6.34 ± 3.49 [−0.49,13.17]
	Meta-analysis (random effects)

^aThis three-armed study assessed Diclofenac, DMSO and placebo; only data for DMSO and placebo is entered. ^bSee our review paper.