Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Death in Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis Save

Hip and knee osteoarthritis patients have been shown to have increased mortality rates from cardiovascular events when compared to the general population.

The study included patients in the Skåne Healthcare Register from southern Sweden who were 45–84 years old and seen over 2004-2014. Overall, there were 15,901 such patients in the study.

For most patients with osteoarthritis, the causes of death were similar to age-matched persons in the population. However, patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis had a higher risk of cardiovascular death (HR 1.19 [95%CI 1.10, 1.28] and 1.13 [1.03, 1.24] respectivly).  With roughly 10 years of follow-up, most CV deaths in OA patients were from chronic ischemic heart diseases and heart failure.

Treatment guidelines for osteoarthritis should focus on interventions to address mobility limitations and maintaining or increase physical activity level as one of several means to lower the CV risk observed in this large population study.