Osteoarthritis: Arthritis Foundation Guidelines

Question 1

Answer

For each condition, we performed a literature review to find a recent widely cited expert group guideline published in the leading specialty-specific peer-reviewed journal or top general medical journal.
Based on the recommendations in the publication, we identify recommended active ingredients and devices that are available over-the-counter per FDA regulations.

Question 2

Answer

Levels of evidence considered:

Tier 1 (Safe and Definitely Effective): Professional field consensus or multiple randomized controlled clinical trials showing the same conclusion. Wherever possible, we use Tier 1 evidence for "first-line" recommendations.
Tier 2 (Safe and Probably Effective): Individual clinical trials which may be discordant or large-scale observational experience. Tier 2 evidence may inform "first-line", "second-line", or "supplement" recommendations.
Tier 3 (Safe and Maybe Effective): Mechanistic plausibility without high-quality clinical evidence of efficacy but high-quality evidence of safety. Tier 3 evidence may inform "second-line" or "supplement" recommendations.

Question 3

Answer

Based on the top clinical recommendation, we evaluate products containing the recommended active agent with FDA-approved dosage based on price, average customer reviews, how often it is purchased, and how quickly it will ship to home.
We provide public documentation of the active ingredients in our recommendations, using all 32 FDA monographs, Prescription-to-Nonprescription (Rx-to-OTC) Switches, as well as New Drug Application (NDA) approvals.

Question 4

Answer

Based on the top clinical recommendation, we evaluate devices that are FDA-cleared or comply with other medical guidelines (if not a FDA-regulated category) by reputability, price, and average customer reviews.
We provide public documentation of supporting evidence for each device.

Question 5

Answer

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You can view all of our published OTC guides here.