Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effects of routine drug therapy in combination with health exercise training on pain and joint function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A meta-analysis

Tianyang Liu^1,2, Chuanbin Huang³, Lingling Zhou⁴, Ruikai Zong² Xueping Zhou¹

¹The First Clinical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210000, China; ²Rheumatology and Immunology Department, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230000, China; ³The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230000, China; ⁴College of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210000, China.

For correspondence:- Xueping Zhou Email: zxp@njucm.edu.cn

Accepted: 26 February 2023 Published: 31 March 2023

Citation: Liu T, Huang C, Zhou L, Zong R.Zhou X. Effects of routine drug therapy in combination with health exercise training on pain and joint function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A meta-analysis. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(3):633-645 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i3.22

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To logically review the effect of conventional drug therapy in combination with healthy exercise training on pain and joint function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: A search on case-control trials was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China VIP database, Wanfang database and China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) online database from January 2005 to May 2022. A separate extraction of the data was conducted by two researchers. A meta-analysis of the data was undertaken using RevMan5.3 statistical software as a tool for assessing the bias risk of each contained article.

Results: A total of 7 clinical controlled studies with 483 samples were obtained. Based on the meta-analysis, the study group was significantly lower (p < 0.05) on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, Joint Tenderness Count (JTC), Joint Swelling Number (JSN), Morning Stiffness Time (MST) and DAS28 score. However, it was significantly higher (p < 0.05) on the average grip strength of both hands, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and patients' general assessment (PGA).

Conclusion: Routine drug therapy, in combination with healthy exercise training significantly reduces the degree of pain, relieves joint symptoms, and improves quality of life in patients with RA.

Keywords: Drug therapy, Healthy exercise training, Rheumatoid arthritis, Pain, Joint function