Trial evaluated effectiveness for common injuries
Four Groups of Patients The patients were randomly assigned to one of four groups. One group received a pill for their acute pain that contained a combination of ibu- profen and acetaminophen, the ingredients in Advil and Tylenol. The other groups were given a pill for their pain that contained a prescription opioid as well as acetaminophen, either oxyco- done and acetaminophen (Percocet), hydroco- done and acetaminophen (Vicodin), or codeine and acetaminophen (Tylenol No. 3). All the patients were asked to rate their pain immediately before taking the pain medication and again both one and two hours afterward (before they left the emergency department). The assessments were done using an 11-point scale (0 = no pain; 10 = worst possible pain). The study found that the intensity of pain was similar among all four groups before they took the medication, with a mean score of 8.7 on the scale. The pain then declined over time in all
As the over prescribing of opioid pain medications has become a major public health concern, health care providers have been paying more attention to over-the count- er-drugs that could be used instead, without the risk of addiction. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has confirmed that OTC meds ibuprofen and acet- aminophen are just as effective as prescription opioids at reducing acute pain caused by com- mon injuries.It is one of the few “real world” studies that has made the comparison. A team of researchers led by Andrew Chang, M.D. of Albany Medical College, studied 411 patients (aged 21 to 64) who had sought med- ical care at two urban emergency departments after having sprained, strained or broken an arm or leg. (About 20 percent of the patients had fractures.)
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