Table 2

Recommended therapies or modalities considered in four comprehensive treatment guidelines for lower-limb osteoarthritis published within the past 5 years^a

^aThis table covers only the four comprehensive treatment guidelines. For summary of recommendations of NSAID-specific guidelines, see Results section. ^bGrade of evidence: A = at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial with adequate power; B = evidence from underpowered randomized controlled; prospective controlled or historical controlled studies; C = consensus/expert opinion/uncontrolled trials; no grade = the therapy/modality was discussed in the text of the guideline, no level of evidence was provided to support the therapy/modality. ^cStrength of recommendation: A = directly based on category-1 evidence (meta-analysis of one or more randomized, controlled trials; B = directly based on category-2 evidence (at least one controlled study without randomization or at least one quasi-experimental study) or extrapolated recommendations from category-1 evidence; C = directly based on category-3 evidence (descriptive studies, such as comparative studies, correlation studies, or case-control studies) or extrapolated recommendations from category-1 or -2 evidence; D = directly based on category-4 evidence (expert committee reports or opinions and/or clinical experience of respected authorities) or extrapolated recommendations from category-2 or -3 evidence. ACR = American College of Rheumatology; ADMMC = Algorithms for the Diagnosis and Management of Musculoskeletal Complaints; COX-2 = cyclooxygenase-2; EULAR = European League Against Rheumatism; ICSI = Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement; NSAID = nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; OA = osteoarthritis; TENS = transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

Pencharz et al. Arthritis Res 2002 4:36   doi:10.1186/ar381