The author presents outcomes of large, observational, multicentric study following efficacy and safety of celecoxib in osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in clinical practice in Czech republic. The group has been followed for 3 months and consisted of 1818 patients with a majority of OA (73,1%). Doses of celecoxib were 200 mg and 200–400 mg in OA and RA respectively. Eighty-two and half per cent of patients were satisfied with this treatment (1–3 on 10 point scale) and 88.8% patients wanted to continue in celecoxib using. Average daily dose of celecoxib was 204.25 mg in OA and 317 mg in RA and did not increase during the study. Tolerance, as assessed by patients, was very good in 92.8% and bad in 2.6%. Drug induced adverse events were found in 23 (1.3%) and led to treatment termination in 20 patients. There were no serious adverse drug reactions in this study. This observational study confirms good efficacy/toxicity ratio of celecoxib to reduce pain and inflammation in OA and RA in clinical practice.

        Key words: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, celecoxib, gastropathy