Effectiveness of Statins on Total Cholesterol and Cardiovascular Disease and All-cause Mortality in Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis
The Journal of Rheumatology, 11/03/2011
Clinical Article
Sheng X et al. – Statins reduced TC concentrations between 7% and 16% in patients with OA or RA. Statins were associated with reduced CV events and mortality in RA and mortality in OA in primary prevention.
Methods- Population-based cohort study was done using a record-linkage database in Tayside, Scotland
- 2024 OA or RA patients who had at least 2 separate TC measurements between 1993 and 2007 were studied
- They were categorized into statin-exposed and statin-unexposed groups according to statin use status during followup
- Main outcomes were TC concentration change from baseline, CV events, and all-cause mortality during the followup
- Multivariate Cox regression models with a time-dependent variable for statins were employed to assess the risk of outcomes
- Statin-associated TC concentrations in OA decreased by 15% in patients without CV disease (primary prevention, n = 1269) and 7% in patients with CV disease (secondary prevention, n = 247) from baseline of 5.30 mmol/l and 4.54 mmol/l
- In RA TC was reduced by 16% (n = 430) and 15% (n = 78) with baselines of 5.54 mmol/l and 4.95 mmol/l
- In primary prevention, statins were associated with reduced CV events and all-cause mortality in RA patients [adjusted HR 0.45 (95% CI 0.20–0.98) and 0.43 (95% CI 0.20–0.92), respectively] and all-cause mortality in OA patients [adjusted HR 0.43 (95% CI 0.25–0.72)]
- Statins were not associated with reduced risk of CV events or all-cause mortality in secondary prevention of RA or OA patients [adjusted HR 0.68 (95% CI 0.30–1.54) and 0.52 (95% CI 0.20–1.34) for OA patients, and HR 0.58 (95% CI 0.07–4.79) and 0.79 (95% CI 0.18–3.53) for RA patients]
