Statins may up risk of developing osteoarthritis.(Clinical Rounds)

A new study puts a twist in the theory that statins could conveniently serve dual purposes in patients with inflammatory diseases that affect both the joints and heart.

Findings from the investigation, involving 5,678 women aged 65 and older, suggest that the use of statins appeared to modestly increase a woman's risk of developing new relatively severe radiographic hip osteoarthritis.

However, statin use did not appear to affect the progression of disease in patients who already had osteoarthritis, reported Mary S. Beattie, M.D., and her associates at the University of California, San Francisco (J. Rheumatol. 2005;32:106-10).

The rationale for the study was based on the fact that while statins are increasingly recognized for their broad anti-inflammatory effects, they have also been shown to increase the production of nitric oxide, which could have a deleterious effect on the cartilage matrix, the investigators said.

The researchers monitored the women, all of whom were white and aged 65 and older, for radiographic evidence of new-onset disease as well as for the progression of established radiographic hip osteoarthritis (RHOA) over an 8-year period. All the women had already been participants in a multicenter study of osteoporotic fractures.

Overall, 7% (397) of the women were statin users, and these women demonstrated nearly twice the risk of developing severe disease, defined radiographically as a summary grade of 3 or greater on the modified Croft scale.

At baseline, 4,933 women had no RHOA in either hip; 566 women had developed new, radiographic evidence of disease in 630 hips by the fifth follow-up visit. Of the 745 women who had RHOA in 936 hips at baseline, the disease worsened in 484 hips among 420 women.