Arthritis and drug therapy in the hypertension clinic.
Non-gouty arthritis is quite common in hypertensive populations and there have been suggestions that drugs used to treat hypertension may be the cause. This possibility has been investigated in a case-control study. We identified 127 hypertensive patients with arthritis other than gout and matched them for age and sex to 254 hypertensive controls who did not have arthritis. Use of antihypertensive drugs was similar in cases and controls for all patients, and for those with undiagnosed arthritis. There was no significant excess use of any type of antihypertensive drug by cases with arthritis. These findings do not support the hypothesis that drug treatment for hypertension commonly causes arthritis. It is more likely that hypertension and arthritis occur together frequently because non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs raise blood pressure, and because both problems are common in middle-age.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000009:adverse effects; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001168:Arthritis / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents