FRIDAY, Sept. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The use of nonselective β-blockers is associated with a lower likelihood of undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), according to a study published online Sept. 5 in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

Iskandar Tamimi, M.D., Ph.D., from University of Málaga in Spain, and colleagues assessed the likelihood of TKA among patients with osteoarthritis (OA) who were being treated with β-blockers. The analysis included 300 patients who underwent TKA and 300 patients who did not undergo TKA.

The researchers found that compared with nonusers, any use of β-blockers during the follow-up period was associated with a reduction in the likelihood of undergoing TKA (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.51; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.34 to 0.77), with differences observed between use of selective β1-blockers (aOR, 0.69; 95 percent CI, 0.36 to 1.31) and nonselective β1-blockers (aOR, 0.42; 95 percent CI, 0.24 to 0.70). Risk varied by proportion of days covered (PDC): PDC of <0.25: aOR, 0.62 (95 percent CI, 0.21 to 1.85); PDC of ≥0.25 to <0.75: aOR, 0.32 (95 percent CI, 0.09 to 1.22); and PDC of ≥0.75: aOR, 0.55 (95 percent CI, 0.34 to 0.88). Risk also varied by cumulative effect of β-blockers: less than one year: aOR, 0.41 (95 percent CI, 0.20 to 0.85); ≥1 to <5 years: aOR, 0.52 (95 percent CI, 0.21 to 1.33); and ≥5 years: aOR, 0.36 (95 percent CI, 0.22 to 0.60).

“We believe that the role of β-blockers in the management of OA could go beyond an analgesic treatment and that these drugs potentially could interfere with the degenerative processes in the cartilage,” the authors write.

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