Numbers needed to treat calculated from responder rates give a better indication of efficacy in osteoarthritis trials than mean pain scores

Table 1 Percentage of patients group achieving various levels of pain relief at 6 weeks compared with baseline

Percentage reduction in pain from baseline	Treatment group: etoricoxib daily dose (mg)
	0 (placebo) (n = 57)	5 (n = 114)	10 (n = 105)	30 (n = 102)	60 (n = 109)
>0	61	77	79	84	88
≥ 10	46	67	69	75	83
≥ 20	30	55	57	58	74
≥ 30	25	44	42	50	66
≥ 40	19	32	31	43	55
≥ 50	11	19	25	34	49
≥ 60	9	11	15	27	35
≥ 70	2	6	11	17	29
≥ 80	2	4	5	5	19
≥ 90	0	1	3	1	5

ISSN: 1478-6362