Symptomatic Management of Lyme Arthritis

NCT ID: NCT04038346

Last Updated: 2025-11-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: TERMINATED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE3
• Total Enrollment: 3 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-10-01
• Study Completion Date: 2025-05-12

Brief Summary

Lyme arthritis resolves with appropriate antimicrobial treatment in a majority of patients, but 10-20% of patients develop antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis with prolonged arthritis symptoms and treatment courses. Excessive up-regulation of the inflammatory process has been shown in patients with antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis. The over-expressed pro-inflammatory cell mediators are downstream of NSAID inhibition, which would suggest initial inflammatory inhibition may be beneficial in these patients. While NSAIDs are known to reduce pro-inflammatory cell mediators early in the course of inflammation, research has shown that there are other cytokines that play a role in the healing after inflammation that are also inhibited by NSAIDs, and that NSAID use can delay healing.

It is not known if scheduled NSAID therapy will reduce, increase, or have no effect on the occurrence of refractory Lyme arthritis cases. The hypothesis of the study is that prescribing scheduled NSAIDs at the time of diagnosis of Lyme arthritis can prevent the development of the excessive inflammatory phase and decrease the number of patients with antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis, or at least decrease the duration of persistent Lyme arthritis symptoms.

The pilot study design randomizes patients to scheduled NSAIDs, scheduled acetaminophen, or scheduled NSAIDs x 1 week than acetaminophen. Primary outcomes are duration of arthritis symptoms, number of refractory cases, side effects and compliance.

Detailed Description

Specific Aims:

1. Demonstrate feasibility to ensure adequate patient enrollment and symptomatic follow-up of patients with Lyme arthritis.

2. Develop pilot data necessary for sample size and power calculations:

The purpose of the research study is to evaluate whether there is symptomatic benefit of schedule NSAID therapy in patients with Lyme arthritis diagnosis.

1. Quantification of antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis in our population

2. Symptomatic outcomes of patients with Lyme arthritis on scheduled NSAIDs versus those not placed on scheduled NSAIDs (duration to resolution and number of patients with resistant arthritis)

3. Assess side effects of patients with Lyme arthritis placed on scheduled NSAIDs versus those not placed on scheduled NSAIDs

4. Assess changes in resources (follow-up visits, further prescriptions) required for patients taking scheduled NSAIDs versus not taking scheduled NSAIDs

Background:

Lyme disease is the systemic tick-borne disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi infection, and is endemic to an expanding portion of the United States. Lyme arthritis is a common presentation of Lyme disease. While Lyme arthritis resolves with appropriate antimicrobial treatment in a majority of patients, 10-20% of patients develop antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis with prolonged inflammatory arthritis. Research suggests excessive up-regulation of the inflammatory process in patients with prolonged symptoms. The over-expressed pro- inflammatory cell mediators are downstream of NSAID inhibition, which would suggest NSAIDs may be beneficial in these patients. In fact, there is data that NSAIDs and/or disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may be beneficial in refractory Lyme arthritis cases, once diagnosed as refractory.

The hypothesis of the study is that prescribing scheduled NSAIDs at the time of diagnosis can prevent the development of the excessive inflammatory phase and decrease the number of patients with antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis, or at least decrease the duration of persistent Lyme arthritis symptoms. There are no known methods to identify patients who will develop antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis. This work is important to delineate optimal timing and duration of NSAIDs given the research that shows the anti- inflammatory effects during healing can potentially delay recovery.

Significance:

While antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis has been studied at a microbiologic/cytokine level as well as evaluated in terms of treatment once patients have been deemed antibiotic refractory, to our knowledge there are no published studies evaluating prevention.

With no literature looking at the question of NSAIDs for the prevention of antibiotic- refractory Lyme arthritis, this pilot study is needed to adequately calculate sample size and power calculations for a large-scale multicenter study. There is anecdotal data from the Rheumatology and Infectious Disease departments at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh that early scheduled NSAIDs may decrease refractory cases, but there has been no formal evaluation into this question. Retrospective evaluation is challenging since the medications in question (NSAIDs) are over the counter, and clinicians may recommend scheduled or intermittent NSAID therapy without documentation, and certainly without prescriptions in the medical record. Many patients with refractory Lyme arthritis are placed on NSAIDs, but given the question of delayed healing with inhibition of prostaglandins during the healing phase of inflammation, the question of whether NSAIDs are beneficial in patients to prevent refractory arthritis is worthwhile rather than the current process of variable NSAID prescription.

Conditions

Lyme Arthritis; Lyme Disease; Arthritis

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

NSAID

Naproxen at weight based standard dose given bid daily until symptoms resolve

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Naproxen

Intervention Type: DRUG

Patients will be randomized to an NSAID (naproxen)

Acetaminophen

Acetaminophen at weight based standard dose given qid until symptoms resolve

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Acetaminophen

Intervention Type: DRUG

Patients will be randomized to acetaminophen

NSAID first, then Acetaminophen

Naproxen at weight based standard dose given bid for one week, then acetaminophen at weight based standard dose given qid until symptoms resolve

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Naproxen

Intervention Type: DRUG

Patients will be randomized to an NSAID (naproxen)

Acetaminophen

Intervention Type: DRUG

Patients will be randomized to acetaminophen

Standard Care

Symptom observation only

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Naproxen

Patients will be randomized to an NSAID (naproxen)

Intervention Type: DRUG

Acetaminophen

Patients will be randomized to acetaminophen

Intervention Type: DRUG

Other Intervention Names

naprosyn, aleve, anaprox; tylenol

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Arthritis
• Undergoing Lyme disease testing (Lyme test positive)

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients will be secondarily withdrawn from analysis and instructed to stop study medication if their Lyme test is negative.

Underlying diagnosis of rheumatoid or recurrent arthritis Already on scheduled NSAIDs

Anything that restricts the prescription of naproxen or acetaminophen:

• Hypersensitivity to naproxen (for example: anaphylactic reactions, serious skin reactions) or any component of the formulation; history of aspirin induced asthma, urticaria, or allergic-type reactions after taking aspirin or other NSAIDs, underlying kidney or liver impairment
• Already taking daily NSAIDs (naproxen or ibuprofen) or daily acetaminophen
• Hypersensitivity to acetaminophen or any component of the formulation; severe liver impairment or severe active liver disease

• Minimum Eligible Age: 3 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Desiree Neville, MD

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Desiree Neville, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Desiree NW Neville, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pittsburgh

Locations

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Countries

United States

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol

View Document

Other Identifiers

STUDY20040185

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id