RESEARCH - Hyperlipidemia, statin use and the risk of developing RA

[Guest guest]

Ann Rheum Dis. 2008 Jul 28.

Hyperlipidemia, statin use and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Jick SS, Choi H, Li L, McInnes IB, Sattar N.

Boston University School of Medicine, United States.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether statins are associated with a

protective effect on the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study using data from the

General Practice Research Database. We identified a study population

consisting of three groups of subjects aged 40 to 89 years; 1)

patients exposed to a statin or other lipid lowering agent (LLA) 2)

patients with a diagnosis of hyperlipidemia in the absence of

lipid-lowering drug treatment, and 3) a random sample of 25,000 people

with no diagnosis of hyperlipidemia nor a prescription for a

lipid-lowering drug. From this population we identified incident cases

of RA and up to 4 controls for each case, matched on age, sex, general

practice, number of years of recorded history in the database, and

index date. We evaluated the independent effects of hyperlipidemia and

statins on the development of RA using conditional logistic

regression. RESULTS: We identified 313 cases of RA and 1252 matched

controls. Compared to patients with untreated hyperlipidemia, or

hyperlipidemia treated with LLAs other than statins, the adjusted OR

for patients with no hyperlipidemia was 0.68 (95% CI 0.50-0.91). When

we compared those with hyperlipidemia who received statins to those

with hyperlipidemia who did not use statins (i.e. untreated

hyperlipidemia patients or those treated with non-statin LLAs) the OR

was 0.59 (95% CI 0.37 - 0.96).

CONCLUSION: These data provide evidence to support the hypothesis that

statins may be protective against the development of RA in those with

hyperlipidemia.

PMID: 18662929

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18662929

--

Not an MD