[FRSM]

A longitudinal study of more than 16600 patients
in the cardiovascular arm of the UK General
Practice Research Database found that higher
dose statins taken for at least two years are
associated with significant reductions in clinically
important outcomes in osteoarthritis (Journal of
General Internal Medicine 2013, doi:10.1007/
s11606-013-2382-8). Estimated reductions
in osteoarthritis outcome were 18% after two
years and 40% after four years in people taking
high dose statins compared with non-statin
users. Biological modification of osteoarthritis
seems a plausible explanation, and abnormal
lipid metabolism might be a a causal factor in the
pathogenesis of the disease.