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Evidence summaries

Gastrointestinal Safety Profile of Nabumetone

Nabumetone may cause less gastrointestinal adverse events than other non-COX-2-selective NSAIDs. Level of evidence: "C"

A systematic review 1 including 30 studies with a total of 49 401 subjects was abstracted in DARE.

Nabumetone caused less GI adverse events than comparator NSAIDs, irrespective of treatment duration (25.3% vs. 28.2%). Bleeds occurred in 0.062% of patients treated with nabumetone, regardless of treatment duration and in 0,916% of patients treated with comparator NSAIDs .

The estimated rate of bleeds per 100 patient-exposure years in patients treated with nabumetone was 0.087% of patients compared with 2.882% of patients treated with comparator NSAIDs.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by indirectness of evidence (the efficacy and dosage of the drugs compared has not been considered in many of the studies) and limitations of review methodology. A possible conflict of interest may be the assistance and analysis provided by researchers at the pharmacological company who market nabumetone.

References

  • Huang JQ, Sridhar S, Hunt RH. Gastrointestinal safety profile of nabumetone: a meta-analysis. Am J Med 1999 Dec 13;107(6A):55S-61S; discussion 61S-64S. [PubMed][DARE]

Primary/Secondary Keywords