Abstract:

Objective To explore the clinical efficacy of berberine in the treatment of acute gouty arthritis （AGA）and its effect on the serum levels of inflammation factors. Methods A total of 64 AGA patients were randomly divided into control group（n = 32）treated with etoricoxib and observation group（n = 32）treated with etoricoxib plus berberine. The clinical efficacy ，adverse reactions and recurrent rate of the two groups were observed. Arthritis scores，the serum levels of CRP，ESR，UA，and inflammation factors（IL⁃1β，COX⁃2，NALP3 and TGF⁃β）were compared before and after treatment. Results The total effective rate in the observation group was 93.75%，which was significantly higher than that of the control group（81.25%）（P < 0.05）. There was no statisti⁃ cal difference in the total incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups（6.25% vs. 9.38%，P > 0.05）. The recurrent rate in the observation group was lower than that of the control group（10.00% vs. 23.08%，P < 0.05）. After treatment，the arthritis scores in the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment（P < 0.05），and the scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group（P < 0.05）. Compared with that before treatment，the level of CRP，ESR and UA of the two groups were significantly decreased after treatment（P < 0.05）， and the level of these indexes in the observation group was lower than that in the control group（P < 0.05）. Compared with that before treatment，the level of IL⁃1β，COX⁃2，NALP3 and TGF⁃ βof the two groups were significantly decreased after treatment（P < 0.05），and the level of these indexes in the observation group was lower than that in the control group（P < 0.05）. Conclusion There is good efficiacy in AGA patients treated with with berberine and it is safe. It can reduce not only the level of CRP，ESR and UA ，but also the inflammatory response effectively.

Key words:

acute gouty arthritis, berberine, uric acid, clinical efficacy, inflammation factors