Using statins may not lower the possibility of occurrence and development of osteoarthritis (OA), irrespective of joint site. But, in the same study it was found that the atorvastatin and rosuvastatin had opposite effects on OA. The study was published in the journal ‘Osteoarthritis and Cartilage’.

This meta-analysis was performed with an aim to find whether the use of statin could decrease the risk of the occurrence and development of OA.

To solve the basis of this analysis, Jie Wang and investigators systematically explored the Embase, PubMed and Cochrane databases to find the observational studies depicting the link between statin use and OA. Quality of the study was examined via the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale. Stata software was used to manage the subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias.

No significant link was found between statin use and occurrence and development of OA as perceived from 11 studies (679807 individuals) recognized from the systematic literature search. There was no noteworthy association between statin use and OA considering this meta-analysis as per the symptomatic or radiological OA. The outcomes of the analysis with respect to the joint site, interval, and dose of statin were also not found significant.