Comparison of Efficacy of Ketoprofen and Ibuprofen in Treating Pain in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or other rheumatic diseases say that pain and stiffness are symptoms affecting their quality of life. Ketoprofen and ibuprofen are the most commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to reduce inflammation and manage mild-to-moderate pain. The aim of this new systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was to compare the clinical efficacy of ketoprofen and ibuprofen in patients with RA. Methods: The MEDLINE and EMBASE scientific databases were systematically searched from their inception to November 2020 to identify RCTs directly comparing the recommended therapeutic doses of oral ketoprofen (50–200 mg/day) with ibuprofen (600–1800 mg/day) for RA pain relief. The meta-analysis was made using the standardized mean differences (SMD) of each of the identified RCTs using a fixed effects model. Results: Four RCTs involving 456 patients met the inclusion criteria. The results of the meta-analysis showed a statistically significant difference in efficacy in favor of ketoprofen (0.33, 95% CI 0.14–0.52, p = 0.0005) at all point-estimates of the mean-weighted size effect. The heterogeneity test for the efficacy outcome (the hypothesis was χ2 = 3.57%, df = 3, p value = 0.31 and the chance of a test effect was 3.49, p = 0.0005) was not significant, and this was confirmed by a Higgins percentage of 16%. The studies included in the meta-analysis did not reveal any significant differences between the two drugs in terms of tolerability or safety. Conclusions: The result of this meta-analysis shows that ketoprofen is more effective than ibuprofen in managing RA pain at therapeutic doses, thus supporting its use in clinical practice.