Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Committee Chair

Trey Boyd

Abstract

Introduction: Osteoarthritis of the knee (KOA) is a progressive degenerative disease of the knee joint characterized by knee pain and limited knee function which negatively impacts activities of daily living. Effective and safe IA treatments are needed to meet the needs of an ever-increasing population of those living with KOA. This clinical review aims to assess the effectiveness of IA hyaluronic acid compared to corticosteroids for pain management in KOA.

Methods: PubMed was searched using the key terms “hyaluronic acid injection”, “knee osteoarthritis”, “corticosteroid injection”, and “pain relief”. Modifiers and operators were applied, and results were narrowed to four relevant articles for review.

Results: One meta-analysis directly compared HA and CS, three articles conducted meta-analyses comparing HA, CS, and additional IA treatments. Each study utilized different statistics for comparison, however all utilized 95% confidence intervals. Discussion: The studies in this review provided overall mixed results in the effectiveness of IA HA compared to IA CSC for the treatment of KOA. Two studies suggested high molecular weight HA significantly improved pain and functional scores compared to CSC. Two studies analysis did not show significant difference between the two treatment groups. There is no significant difference in safety profiles and adverse events for either treatment. Further meta-analyses are needed reviewing trials with standardized data and comparison of specific HA and CSC formulations to further guide best practice in the management of knee OA.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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