Abstract

The analysis yielded significant revelations regarding the effectiveness and safety of utilizing diclofenac sodium as a treatment choice for knee osteoarthritis in the elderly population. The keywords "diclofenac sodium" and "knee osteoarthritis" were used to search the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang databases, while the terms "diclofenac" and "knee osteoarthritis" were employed to search Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library and PubMed. Two assessors independently evaluated the quality of the included articles using the Cochrane scoring system. Extraction of data from the selected studies was performed, and the effect of diclofenac sodium was quantified through meta-analysis with RevMan 5.3. Following the process of literature search, selection, and quality assessment, a total of 8 studies were identified as suitable for incorporation in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results indicated that participants in the diclofenac sodium experimental group experienced significant enhancements in Western Ontario and McMaster universities osteoarthritis index pain, physical function, and stiffness scores, surpassing those of the control group. Furthermore, the experimental group displayed a superior treatment efficacy. According to the meta-analysis results, the diclofenac sodium experimental group demonstrated a higher occurrence of gastrointestinal adverse events than the control group. In opposition, no significant discrepancy was detected in the occurrence of skin and other adverse events between the two groups. This meta-analysis conclusively established that diclofenac sodium exerts statistically significant effects on pain, physical function, and stiffness improvement in elderly patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis. Taking into account the results of this meta-analysis and systematic review, diclofenac sodium can be recommended as a primary non-surgical treatment option for knee osteoarthritis in elderly individuals. Nonetheless, healthcare professionals should closely monitor and manage the occurrence of gastrointestinal adverse events.