A Multicentre Comparison of Flurbiprofen and Naproxen in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Four-Week Study in 118 Patients

One-hundred and eighteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis were treated for 4 weeks with flurbiprofen 300 mg/day (sixty patients) or naproxen 750 mg/day (fifty-eight patients) in a six-centre randomized trial. Flurbiprofen proved to be more effective than naproxen in reducing morning stiffness (p < 0·01), Ritchie articular index (p < 0·01) and number of swollen joints (p < 0·05) and in relieving night pain (p < 0·01).The incidence and severity of side-effects, mainly gastric, were both low and similar with flurbiprofen (17%) and naproxen (19%).