The clinical research about osteoarthritis from collaboration between two teams was recently published titled “Comparative efficacy of exercise therapy and oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and paracetamol for knee or hip osteoarthritis: a network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials” onBr J Sports Med, the leading journal in sports medicine. The two teams include the team of Prof. Lei Guanghua and Prof. Zeng Chao from the Department of Orthopedics of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University/National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, and the team of Prof. Zhang Weiya from the University of Nottingham, UK. Weng Qianlin, a 2020 graduate student of the Department of Orthopedics of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, and Associate Professor Siew-Li Goh from the University of Malaya are the co-first authors. Prof. Lei Guanghua, Prof. Zeng Chao and Prof. Zhang Weiya are the co-corresponding authors. The important co-authors also included Prof. Wei Jie, Technician Wu Jing, Technician-in-charge Li Xiaoxiao, and Attending physician Jiang Ting from Xiangya Hospital, and Prof. Michael Doherty, Associate Prof. Michelle Hall, Doctoral Candidate Aliya Sarmanova and Doctoral Candidate Monica S M Persson from the University of Nottingham. Xiangya Hospital of Central South University is the first affiliation and the first corresponding affiliation.
Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease, with a prevalence rate of 46.3% in people aged 40 and above in China. As an important method in the clinical treatment of osteoarthritis, exercise therapy is recommended as a first-line treatment by several international guidelines. However, due to controversy over the effectiveness of exercise therapy and the lack of confidence of clinicians and patients in capability to exercise, exercise therapy still faces problems in clinical practice, such as insufficient implementation and low promotion. Through a network meta-analysis of 152 randomised controlled trials, Prof. Lei Guanghua and Prof. Zeng Chao's team confirmed that exercise is indeed a medicine and its analgesic effect is similar to that of oral NSAIDs and paracetamol. Combined with its favourable safety, they proposed that exercise therapy is a "good treatment" for osteoarthritis, especially for patients with contraindications to oral analgesics. The results will have an important impact on the treatment guidelines for osteoarthritis at home and abroad.
Over the years, Professor Lei Guanghua and his team has been committed to studying the pathogenesis, clinical prevention and treatment, and translational medicine of degenerative joint diseases. Prof. Lei was selected as the Leading Talent of the National “Ten Thousand Talents Program” and Distinguished Professor of “Changjiang Scholars Program” of the Ministry of Education, and awarded the “National Advanced Worker”. In the past few years, he has taken charge of eight nationalresearchprojects funded by the National Key R&D Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (including Key Program and Joint Fund for Regional Innovation and Development). He has published 160 SCI papers as corresponding author in international journals, such asJAMA（IF:157.375),N Engl J Med（IF:176.082),Ann Intern Med(2 articles; IF: 51.598),Eur Heart J(IF: 35.855),Ann Rheum Dis(2 articles; IF:28.003),Br J Sports Med(2 articles),ACS Nano,Nat Commun, Arthritis Rheumatol(3 articles),Int J Surg, J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle, EbioMedicineandActa Biomater, with a total IF of1616.715, among which the highest IF of a single original article is157.375. Prof. Lei’s research findings were included in clinical guidelines of authoritative academic organizations in China and beyond, including the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), French Society for Rheumatology (SFR) and German Pain Society for 46 times. He also served as editor-in-chief for five guidelines and expert consensus of the Chinese Medical Association. With 56 national patent grants, Prof. Lei also serves as a reviewer for 60 SCI journals includingBMJandArthritis Rheumatol. Prof. Lei, as thefirst winner,won the first prize of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award , the first prize of the MOE Technological Progress Award, the first prize of the Huaxia Medical Science and Technology Award, as well as the Wu Jieping Medical Innovation Award.
Prof. Zeng Chao, Doctor in Surgery (Orthopedics), Postdoctoral Researcher of Harvard University, Orthopedic Surgeon, Distinguished Professor, Researcher, Doctoral Supervisor, was selected as the Top Young Scholar of the National “Ten Thousand Talents Program”,Chief Scientist of Youth Project of National Key R&D Program of China, National Young Post Expert, Leading Talent in Science and Technology Innovation in Hunan Province, Hunan Young Talent and “Furong Scholar” Young Scholar of Hunan Province. In the past five years, he has published 21 SCI papers inJAMA,Eur Heart J,Ann Rheum Dis, Br J Sports Med(2 articles),ACS Nano, Arthritis Rheumatol(2 articles),Int J Surg, J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle, EbioMedicine,etc. as the first author or corresponding author (including co-first author or co-corresponding author) with a total IF of410.208and an average IF per paper of19.534. His papers have been cited more than 3,800 times byNew Engl J Med, Lancet, JAMA, BMJ, etc., with H index of 34. Prof. Zeng also serves as a Member and the Secretary of the Osteoarthritis Subcommittee of Chinese Medical Association Orthopaedics Branch Committee.
PIs and postdoctoral researchers specialized in fields such as osteoarthritis, sarcopenia, bioinformation, preventive medicine, biomaterial, and pain research are cordially invited to join the team led by Prof. Lei and Prof. Zeng (Contact: lei_guanghua@csu.edu.cn).
Link to the Article:https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/02/bjsports-2
