Efficacy and safety of colchicine for the treatment of osteoarthritis: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention trials

Colchicine, in the form of Colchicum autumnale, has been used to treat joint swelling for centuries. The anti-inflammatory action o colchicine and the higher prevalence of calcium pyrophosphate crystal deposition (CPPD) in osteoarthritis (OA) joints have led to th use of colchicine as a potential treatment for OA, however, the quality of the evidence on this regards is still limited. The curren protocol aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis proving the efficacy and safety of colchicine for the treatment of adul patients with OA. For that purpose, Scopus(R), Web of Sciences(R), Medline(R) and Cochrane Library(R) will be inspected for the availabl trials testing the efficacy and safety of colchicine for the treatment of any type of OA (e.g., hand, knee or hip). Cochrane tool will b used to assess the risk of bias of included trials. A meta-analysis of dichotomous (e.g., adverse events) or continuous data (e.g., mea difference in pain scale) will be performed depending on the data reporting. Review Manager 5 (RevMan) and RStudio Version 1.2.133 will be used to conduct the statistical analysis.