Modification of cardiovascular risk factors after viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid in patients with symptomatic hip and knee osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the modification of cardiovascular risk factor parameters after intra-articular injection with hyaluronic acid in patients with symptomatic hip and knee osteoarthrtitis. This was a retrospective cohort study of 101 patients meeting the clinical and radiological criteria of the American College of Rheumatology for hip and knee osteoarthritis, Kellgren-Lawrence grades I-IV.

METHODS: Patients received four intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid in the knee and/or hip in the period of study. After the injections, changes in weight and BMI, pain using the visual analogue scale, consumption of pain medications, and physical activity were recorded at each follow-up visit. Analytical variations in blood glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides were also evaluated.

RESULTS: Over the 24-month study period, weight and BMI were stabilised. A reduction in pain of 1.2 points (p<0.001), a 20,76% reduction in analgesic consumption (p<0.001), and a 19.81% increase in physical activity (p<0.001) and a 21.8% increase in frequency (p=0.001) were observed. Total cholesterol (p=0.002), LDL (p=0.009), HDL (p=0.023), and triglycerides (p=0.021) showed a significant decrease in all cases when analysed in patients whose baseline levels were pathological.

CONCLUSIONS: Intra-articular viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid in symptomatic hip and knee osteoarthritis achieves a decrease in pain, potentially allowing patients to increase their physical activity levels, which helps control weight and BMI. Secondarily it could influence the improvement of CVRF analytical outcomes in the medium term in those patients who had altered levels.