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Hyperuricemia has been recognized as a worldwide public health concern. This study was conducted to examine the association between serum copper (Cu) concentration and the prevalence of hyperuricemia in a middle-aged and elderly population. Serum Cu concentration was measured by Roche modular P800 using the PAESA method. Serum uric acid (UA) concentration was detected by a Beckman Coulter AU 5800. Presence of hyperuricemia was defined as serum UA ≥ 416 μmol/L for men and ≥360 μmol/L for women. The association between serum Cu concentration and the prevalence of hyperuricemia was evaluated by logistic regression. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 17.6% (n = 6,212) in the present study. Relative to the lowest quintile, the age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios for hyperuricemia were 1.38 (95% CI: 1.12 to 1.70), 1.34 (95% CI: 1.07 to 1.66), and 1.53 (95% CI: 1.23 to 1.91) in the third, fourth, and fifth serum Cu concentration quintiles (P for trend < 0.001). Similar results were found both in men and women subgroups. None of the findings were materially altered after adjustment for additional potential confounders. In conclusion, in this population-based cross-sectional study, serum Cu concentration was positively associated with the prevalence of hyperuricemia.

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of glucosamine, chondroitin, the two in combination, or celecoxib in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA). PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched through from inception to February 2015. A total of 54 studies covering 16427 patients were included. Glucosamine plus chondroitin, glucosamine alone and celecoxib were all more effective than placebo in pain relief and function improvement. Specifically, celecoxib is most likely to be the best treatment option, followed by the combination group. All treatment options showed clinically significant improvement from baseline pain, but only glucosamine plus chondroitin showed clinically significant improvement from baseline function. In terms of the structure-modifying effect, both glucosamine alone and chondroitin alone achieved a statistically significant reduction in joint space narrowing. Although no significant difference was observed among the five options with respect to the three major adverse effects (withdrawal due to adverse events, serious adverse events and the number of patients with adverse events), the additional classical meta-analysis showed that celecoxib exhibited a higher rate of gastrointestinal adverse effect comparing with the placebo group. The present study provided evidence for the symptomatic efficacy of glucosamine plus chondroitin in the treatment of knee OA.

This network meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of 100 mg BID and 200 mg QD oral celecoxib in the treatment of OA of the knee or hip. PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched through from inception to August 2014. Bayesian network meta-analysis was used to combine direct and indirect evidences on treatment effectiveness and safety. A total of 24 RCTs covering 11696 patients were included. For the comparison in between the two dosage regimens, 100 mg BID oral celecoxib exhibited a greater probability to be the preferred one either in terms of pain intensity or function at the last follow-up time point. For total gastrointestinal (GI) adverse effects (AEs), both of the two dosage regimens demonstrated a higher incidence compared to the placebo group. Further analyses of GI AEs revealed that only 200 mg QD was associated with a significantly higher risk of abdominal pain when compared with placebo. Furthermore, 100 mg BID showed a significantly lower incidence of skin AEs when compared with 200 mg QD and placebo. Maybe 100 mg BID should be considered as the preferred dosage regimen in the treatment of knee or hip OA.

This prospective study aimed to investigate the relationship between higher hematocrit (Hct) level and hyperuricemia (HU) incidence. A total of 27540 subjects were included. Baseline Hct was classified into four categories based on the quartile distribution of the study population. A cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate the risk of HU incidence across the Hct quartiles after adjusting a number of potential confounding factors. Out of the 62897 person-years of follow-up, 2745 new cases of HU were developed. In models adjusted for known risk factors of HU, higher Hct was used to predict HU incidence independently in a graded manner (p = 0.02): compared with subjects in the lowest quartile, subjects in the highest quartile of Hct (hazard ratio = 1.20; 95% confidence interval: 1.03–1.41) were n20% more likely to develop HU. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the hazard ratios increased with the extension of the minimum follow-up interval. When the minimum follow-up interval was restricted to 4 years, subjects in the highest quartile of Hct were 70% more likely to develop HU, compared with the lowest quartile. Higher Hct, a routinely measured inexpensive biomarker was independently associated with the incidence of HU even within the normal range.