Statin Use and Clinical Osteoarthritis in the General Population: A Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND: One hypothesis has posited whether abnormal lipid metabolism might be a causal factor in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Routine statin use in clinical practice provides the basis for a natural experiment in testing this hypothesis. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that statins reduce the long-term occurrence of clinically defined OA. DESIGN: Cohort design with a 10-year follow-up. PARTICIPANTS: 16,609 adults cardiovascular disease cohorts aged 40 years and over from the UK General Practice Research Database with data available to 3