CONSENSUS RECOMMENDATION The systematic literature review yielded no studies that met inclusion criteria for this option. Outside the inclusion criteria, there is high quality evidence that oral acetaminophen improves pain and function for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. This led to a strong recommendation supporting the use of oral acetaminophen for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee in the AAOS Osteoarthritis of the Knee 3 Guideline.
Benefits/Harms of Implementation
Although oral acetaminophen is widely utilized to treat osteoarthritis of the hip, there are contraindications to its use. Contraindications that should be considered include, but are not limited to, patients with preexisting liver disease.
Outcome Importance
The use of non-opioid medications such as acetaminophen for nonoperative treatment of symptomatic osteoarthritis of the hip is extremely important to minimize the use of opioids.
Cost Effectiveness/Resource Utilization
Acetaminophen is widely available and an extremely cost-effective treatment for symptomatic osteoarthritis of the hip. However, there is limited comparative data on the cost-effectiveness of oral acetaminophen compared to other nonoperative treatments of osteoarthritis of the hip.
Acceptability
This option should be readily implemented as it does not influence a major change in clinical practice. Oral acetaminophen is commonly used to treat symptomatic osteoarthritis of the hip. This option further supports this clinical practice.
Feasibility
Oral acetaminophen is widely available. Thus, this option should be easily implemented with no apparent barriers to adoption.
Future Research
Future research is warranted to better understand the adverse events with oral acetaminophen use, particularly in patients at higher risk. Further studies are also needed to compare the different dosages and durations of treatment. Future studies are needed to establish efficacy within certain subgroups and populations.