One of Australia’s most used medications, paracetamol, has been revealed to be ineffective in reducing pain for some commonly held conditions.
In a review in the Medical Journal of Australia, University of Sydney researchers looked at the “efficacy and safety of paracetamol for pain relief”.
They looked at its effectiveness in treating 44 pain conditions - ranging from dental procedure pain to headaches.
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During the trial, the researchers reviewed the “analgesic effects of paracetamol in randomised, placebo‐controlled trials”.
The review found that while it was effective at treating some of the conditions, in others, it was found to be no more effective than the placebo.
In one revelation that might surprise many, paracetamol was found to not be effective in treating acute lower back pain.
So, what conditions did paracetamol work on?
These conditions were knee and hip osteoarthritis, craniotomy, tension headache, and perineal pain (pain in the pelvic area).
There was actually high-quality evidence that paracetamol was efficient in treating knee or hip osteoarthritis.
There was moderate-quality evidence of efficacy in treating “women with early postpartum perineal pain” and “relieving pain in people with episodic tension‐type headache”.
“While paracetamol is widely used, its efficacy in relieving pain has been established for only a handful of conditions, and its benefits are often modest,” the study said.
“High or moderate-quality evidence that paracetamol (typically 0.5–1g, single or multiple doses) is superior to placebo for relieving pain was available for only four of 44 painful conditions examined.”
Ineffective
The study found high-quality evidence that it was ineffective for treating acute lower back pain.
There was also evidence to a lower quality than paracetamol was ineffective in relieving the pain of a sore throat during the common cold.
This is as well as relieving migraines in children and adolescents, and pain after dental surgery in children.
There was also a number of conditions the study remained inconclusive on.
These included post-operative pain, chronic low back pain, endodontic surgery pain and abdominal pain.
“High or moderate-quality evidence that paracetamol (typically 0.5–1 g, single or multiple doses) is superior to placebo for relieving pain was available for only four of 44 painful conditions examined: knee and hip osteoarthritis, craniotomy, tension headache, and perineal pain,” the review said.
“Evidence for the efficacy of paracetamol in most pain conditions is of low quality or inconclusive, and for the four conditions for which there is high or moderate quality evidence of efficacy, the benefits are small.”
The researchers concluded large, high-quality trials were needed to “reduce uncertainty about the efficacy of paracetamol for relieving common pain conditions”.
“Available evidence is largely derived from trials that evaluated the effects of single doses; investigations of multiple-dose regimens, reflecting usual practice, are needed,” the study said.
“For some long term conditions, such as osteoarthritis, long term efficacy and safety should also be evaluated.”