Effect of colchicine in the treatment of elderly patients with gouty arthritis and its influence on ESR, CRP and UA

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of colchicine tablets in the treatment of patients with gouty arthritis, and to observe the effect of colchicine tablets on erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and uric acid (UA). Methods From March 2016 to March 2017, 70 patients with gouty arthritis in our hospital were randomly divided into control group and observation group according to the random number table method.The control group was treated with celecoxib capsules 0.2g, 2 times a day.The observation group was treated with colchicine tablets 0.5mg three times daily, celecoxib capsules 0.2g, 2 times a day.The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the degree of joint pain in two groups.The Likert scale was used to evaluate the swelling of the two groups before and after treatment.The pain relief time was recorded in both two groups.The ESR, CRP and UA were measured before and after treatment.The clinical effects and adverse reactions in the two groups were analyzed. Results After treatment, the VAS score of the observation group was (2.04±0.52)points, which was significantly lower than (3.53±1.22)points of the control group(t=6.64, P=0.00). The joint swelling score of observation group after treatment was (0.62±0.24) points, which was significantly lower than (1.21±0.33)points of the control group(t=8.55, P=0.00). After treatment, the VAS score and joint swelling score in the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment (all P<0.05). The pain relief time of the observation group was significantly shorter than that of the control group [(1.36±0.47)d vs.(1.79±0.63)d, t=3.23, P=0.00]. After treatment, the ESR, CRP and UA levels of the observation group were (12.65±3.17)mm/h, (12.14±2.27)mg/L, (417.82±55.88)μmol/L, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of the control group [(14.77±4.22)mm/h, (14.69±3.16)mg/L, (458.93±62.74)μmol/L, t=2.37, 3.87, 2.37, P=0.02, 0.00, 0.00]. After treatment, the ESR, CRP and UA levels of the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment (all P<0.05). The total effective rate of the observation group was 80.00%, which was obviously higher than 57.14% of the control group(χ2=7.55, P=0.02). The incidence rate of adverse reaction of the observation group was 8.57%, which of the control group was 5.71%, the difference was not statistically significant (χ2=0.21, P=0.64). Conclusion Colchicine tablets combined with celecoxib capsules in the treatment of patients with gouty arthritis can reduce ESR, CRP and UA levels, improve the degree of pain and joint swelling, and will not increase the adverse reactions. Key words: Arthritis, gouty; Colchicine tablets; Uric acid; Blood sedimentation; C-reactive protein