Paracetamol beat placebo by half a point out of 100 for back pain
Across 13 trials on a 0-to-100 pain scale, paracetamol came half a point ahead of placebo, and did not change disability or quality of life. The evidence was graded high quality.
What the study found
Paracetamol did nothing measurable for low back pain
Thirteen trials on a 0-to-100 pain scale put paracetamol half a point ahead of placebo, in a range from 2.9 ahead to 1.9 behind. Disability and quality of life came out the same. The evidence behind that null was graded high quality, so this is knowing rather than not knowing.
The caveat · Only out to twelve weeks
Short-term outcomes only, out to twelve weeks, so this says nothing about months of use. A group average does not rule out individuals who feel better on it. A separate network of 98 trials covering 69 medicines for the same condition rated confidence in every analgesic tested as low or very low, which is a different verdict from a confident null and worth holding alongside it. Four authors, lead and senior among them, had GlaxoSmithKline support for one of the pooled trials, a conflict that runs against the finding rather than towards it.