Anti-inflammatory drugs in periarthritis of the shoulder: a double-blind, between-patient study of naproxen versus indomethacin.

Fifty-nine patients were entered into a double-blind, parallel comparison of the efficacy and side-effects of naproxen sodium (825 mg daily) and indomethacin (100 mg daily) in the treatment of periarthritis of the shoulder joint. Assessments were made on entry to the study, at two weeks, and at the end of four weeks when objective and subjective recordings of mobility, loss of function, pain and the presence of absence of side-effects were noted. The two treatment groups were found to be matched for age, sex and duration of disease, and an assessment at the start of the study differed only in respect of the degree of active medial rotation of the shoulder joint and pain. There was an overall improvement from the time of admission to the study in both the naproxen sodium and the indomethacin treatment groups but there was no significant difference between the efficacy of the two groups. One patient from the naproxen sodium group and three patients from the indomethacin group withdrew from the trial because of side-effects which in each case involved the gastro-intestinal tract.