Tolerability and adverse events in clinical trials of celecoxib in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis of information from company clinical trial reports

Table 7 Analysis of changes to haematological parameters in patients treated for arthritis

			Number of		Incidence of events (%)
Outcome/ comparisons	Celecoxib daily dose	Comparator and daily dose	Trials	Patients	Celecoxib	Comparator	Relative risk^a (95% CI)	NNTp^b or NNH^c (95% CI)
*Haemoglobin fall of 20 g/L or more*
Celecoxib v placebo	Any	Placebo	5	3,577	0.8	0.5	1.5 (0.56–4.0)
Celecoxib v paracetamol	Any	Paracetamol 4,000 mg
Celecoxib v rofecoxib	Any	Rofecoxib 25 mg
Celecoxib (200/400) v NSAID	200–400 mg	NSAID to maximum daily	10	15,746	1.1	2.2	0.71 (0.55–0.91) ^a	92 (66–150) ^b
Celecoxib (any dose) v NSAID	Any	NSAID to maximum daily	10	16,180	1.1	2.2	0.72 (0.56–0.92) ^a	93 (67–150) ^b
Celecoxib (any dose) v any active	Any	Any active comparator	11	16,990	1.1	2.1	0.72 (0.56–0.92) ^a	100 (71–170) ^b
*Haematocrit fall of 5% or more*
Celecoxib v placebo	Any	Placebo	9	6,442	8.1	6.5	1.20 (0.98–1.5)
Celecoxib v paracetamol	Any	Paracetamol 4,000 mg
Celecoxib v rofecoxib	Any	Rofecoxib 25 mg	2	962	12.6	17.1	0.74 (0.54–1.01)
Celecoxib (200/400) v NSAID	200–400 mg	NSAID to maximum daily	12	6,910	9.9	15.4	0.77 (0.68–0.88) ^a	18 (14–25) ^b
Celecoxib (any dose) v NSAID	Any	NSAID to maximum daily	12	8,038	9.9	15.4	0.78 (0.69–0.89) ^a	18 (14–25) ^b
Celecoxib (any dose) v any active	Any	Any active comparator	14	8,970	10.1	15.6	0.78 (0.69–0.88) ^a	18 (14–25) ^b

^aRelative risk: bold indicates statistically significant difference. ^bNNTp (number-needed-to-treat to prevent one event) is indicated by bold. ^cNNH (number-needed-to-treat to harm one patient). CI, confidence interval; NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

ISSN: 1478-6362