Other NSAIDs of choice for rheumatoid arthritis.

Aspirin is an effective antiinflammatory and analgesic agent. Pain relief is achieved with relatively modest doses, far below those necessary for inflammation control. The patient reacts to the need for pain relief and will take fewer aspirin than prescribed because the lower dosage is better tolerated and less expensive. This often obviates the wanted effects. This pain-inflammation gap does not exist for most nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), in which analgesic and antiinflammatory doses approximate each other. The range of toxic effects from aspirin is larger than that for nonsteroidal drugs. Gastric erosions and bleeding are far more prevalent with aspirin. Other organ systems are involved more by aspirin than by other drugs, and, in osteoarthritis, aspirin actually may militate against recovery by interfering with glycosaminoglycan synthesis.