An un-commissioned randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind study to test the effect of deep sea fish oil as a pain reliever for dogs suffering from canine OA

Table 2 Primary and secondary variables per group at start and end of trial and P-values for change within and between groups

Variable		Fish oil			Placebo		Between
Variable	Baseline	End of trial	P-value^*	Baseline	End of trial	P-value^*	P-value^†
PVF	76.7 ± 19.6	82.6 ± 22.6	0.021	77.2 ± 20.5	79.3 ± 22.1	0.210	0.388
Impulse	9.9 ± 3.5	10.2 ± 3.5	0.092	10.0 ± 2.9	10.6 ± 3.4	0.207	0.699
HCPI	16.1 ± 5.4	12.8 ± 6.8	<0.001	17.1 ± 6.4	15.0 ± 6.9	0.013	0.335
NSAID use ^‡	1.0 ± 1.4	0.4 ± 0.8	0.017	0.7 ± 1.2	0.4 ± 0.9	0.214	0.740
Locomotion-VAS	3.8 ± 1.9	3.5 ± 2.1	0.489	4.5 ± 1.9	4.0 ± 2.2	0.220	0.354
QOL-VAS	3.6 ± 1.8	2.9 ± 1.8	0.045	3.8 ± 1.8	3.5 ± 1.9	0.301	0.749
Comp. mobility	26.1 ± 4.55	23.1 ± 11.0	0.021	25.9 ± 4.1	24.1 ± 5.7	0.122	0.525
Comp. daily chores	22.7 ± 4.7	19.2 ± 9.5	0.011	21.6 ± 4.2	20.2 ± 5.6	0.339	0.595
Comp. skin/hair	7.9 ± 1.1	6.9 ± 3.0	0.025	7.8 ± 1.6	7.5 ± 2.0	0.424	0.572
Vet. index	2.4 ± 2.4	2.1 ± 2.5	0.096	2.5 ± 2.2	2.7 ± 2.6	0.009	0.196
Owner final (1–5) ^§	NA	1.3 ± 1.2	NA	NA	1.9 ± 1.1	NA	0.029
Group? (1–2) ^£	NA	1.4 ± 0.5	NA	NA	1.7 ± 0.5	NA	0.028

^* = P-value of comparing start of trial to end of trial, within group.
^† = P-value of comparing change from baseline to end of trial, between groups, except for the last two (“owner final” and “Group?”), where the P-value is the difference between the two group means at end of trial.
^‡ = W₋₈ was here used as baseline, as owners were asked to not use NSAIDs at W₀.
^§ = At the end of trial the owners answered a questions on how well the treatment corresponded to their idea of a successful treatment; 1 = corresponded fully, 2 = quite well, 3 = to some parts, 4 = not so well, 5 = not at all.
^£ = Owners guessed that their dogs were in 1 = the treatment or in 2 = the placebo group.
Comp. = comparative questionnaire. Values P <0·05 are bolded. NA = data not available.

ISSN: 1746-6148