NSAIDs Mediate Cardiovascular Risk in OA Save

NSAIDs have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but does this also hold for osteoarthritis (OA) patients.

A longitudinal health administrative data (HAD) study from British Columbia, Canada compared two cohorts of 7,743 OA patients and 23,229 non‐OA controls to examin the risk of incident CVD (primary outcome) as well as ischemic heart disease (IHD), congestive heart failure (CHF) and stroke (secondary outcomes).

OA patients had a higher risk of developing CVD compared to people without OA. The adjusted hazard ration (HR) was 1.23 (95% CI, 1.17, 1.28) and was 1.42, 1.17, and 1.14 for CHF, IHD and stroke, respectively.

Approximately 41% of the total effect of OA on increased CVD risk was mediated through NSAID.

These data show an increased risk of CVD in OA patients and is the first study to show that NSAID's substantially mediated this risk.