A single-dose analgesic study of naproxen sodium and soluble aspirin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Nineteen patients with moderate or severe pain due to rheumatoid arthritis were entered into a double-blind, crossover comparison of single doses of 550 mg naproxen sodium and 900 mg soluble aspirin. Pain relief, measured on a visual analogue scale, showed a rapid onset of action of both drugs. Pain relief reached 50% of its maximum within 1 hour on both drugs. There were no significant differences in the pain relief/time curves. Five patients found no relief of pain with either drug but of the remaining 14 patients 10 reported an onset of action of both drugs within half an hour. Nine patient on naproxen sodium and 7 on soluble aspirin rated pain relief as good or very good. At the end of the study, 7 patients preferred soluble aspirin, 4 preferred naproxen sodium and the remainder gave no preference. There were no side-effects on eigher drug.