MONDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Osteoarthritis patients who are long-term users of the NSAID diclofenac have more than double the risk of arthritis progression in their hips and triple the risk in their knees compared with short-term diclofenac users, according to a report in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Max Reijman, M.Sc., of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues investigated the use of various NSAIDs in hip and knee osteoarthritis progression. Radiographs of 2,514 hips and 874 knees were taken at baseline and at a mean follow-up of 6.6 years.
After correcting for age, sex, body mass index, baseline disease, follow-up time and defined daily dosage, the investigators found that diclofenac taken for longer than 180 days increased the risk of radiologic osteoarthritis progression in the hip by 2.4-fold, and in the knee by 3.2-fold compared with short-term use of the drug (less than 30 days).
"Whether this occurs because of a true deleterious effect on cartilage or because of excessive mechanical loading on a hip following pain relief remains to be investigated," the authors conclude.
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