Arthritis and drug therapy in the hypertension clinic
Waller, P.C.; Ramsay, L.E.
Biomedicine and PharmacoTherapy 42(3): 207-211
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0753-3322 PMID: 3052606 Document Number: 316465
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.