Clinical research studyStatin Use and Musculoskeletal Pain Among Adults With and Without Arthritis
Section snippets
Study Population
We included 8228 adults aged 40 years or more who participated in the NHANES 1999-2004. The NHANES is a cross-sectional, continuous survey administered by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).9 The survey uses a complex, multistage, probability sampling design to select participants representative of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population with oversampling of certain population subgroups to increase the reliability and precision of estimates for these groups. Public use
Results
Among 8228 NHANES participants aged 40 years or more (representing 113 million US individuals), including those with and without arthritis, 1306 participants (representing 17 million US individuals) reported using a statin in the past 30 days. Statin use increased significantly over time, with prevalence of use in the last 30 days estimated to be 13%, 15%, and 18% for study periods 1999-2000, 2001-2002, and 2003-2004, respectively (P for trend <.001).
Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of
Discussion
In this cross-sectional study of 8228 individuals representative of the general US population, we showed that use of statins is associated with musculoskeletal pain among individuals without arthritis, but that statin use does not add to the pain burden of individuals with arthritis. Among those without arthritis, statin use is significantly associated with a 33% higher prevalence of reporting musculoskeletal pain in any region after adjusting for multiple confounders (number needed to harm =
Conclusions
In this population-based, cross-sectional study, we found that among those without arthritis, statins are associated with a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, particularly in the lower extremities. These data did not demonstrate an association of a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among those with arthritis.
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Funding: This study was supported by Grant K23AR055664 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
Conflict of Interest: None.
Authorship: All authors had access to the data and played a role in writing this manuscript.