A study conducted by Arthritis Research Canada has shown that the use of statins, traditionally utilized to lower cholesterol, is neither harmful nor beneficial to those with knee osteoarthritis.
The goal of this study, performed on people aged 40 to 79 years with predominantly pre-radiographic knee osteoarthritis and who were followed for 7 years, was to evaluate the association between statin use with incidence and/or progression of cartilage damage, effusion, osteophytes, and bone marrow lesions using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Pre-radiographic knee osteoarthritis refers to cartilage damage that can only be detected by MRI, in radiographically normal knees. Cartilage is the cushioning layer in the joints that gets worn away in people with osteoarthritis.
Previous research has studied the connection between statin use and osteoarthritis progression and shown contradicting results. All used radiographs as the primary outcome measure, a method that is unable to measure articular cartilage damage. MRI can detect early cartilage damage over a short time interval and has the advantage of being able to evaluate other tissue abnormalities that are involved in the osteoarthritis disease process.
“We found that those who used statins did not have worsening or improvement in cartilage damage on MRI, compared to the non-users,” said Dr. Jolanda Cibere, Senior Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada. “As a result, we conclude that statins are not harmful or beneficial in people with osteoarthritis.”
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