Corticosteroid injections, one of the most widely used treatments for joint pain relief, may perhaps hasten the course of the condition, according to recent research.
Osteoarthritis, the most prevalent form of arthritis, is brought on by the gradual loss of cartilage in joints, which causes pain and stiffness.
Joint Pain Treatment Corticosteroid Injection
The illness most frequently impacts the hands, hips, and knees and affects more than 32 million US individuals. Injections of corticosteroids can occasionally reduce joint pain even if there is no cure. Hyaluronic acid injections are also employed, but insurance coverage for them is less frequent.
On average, patients who had corticosteroid injections saw their knee arthritis grow more quickly than those who did not, according to two small unpublished studies that will be presented on Tuesday at the annual conference of the Radiological Society of North America. In contrast, hyaluronic acid injections were connected to a slower start of sickness when compared to a control group.
The Osteoarthritis Initiative, an extensive observational research effort including close to 5,000 adults with knee osteoarthritis, was the subject of both studies, which evaluated participants.
In Darbandi’s research, X-rays from 50 patients who had corticosteroid injections, 50 patients who received hyaluronic acid, and an additional 50 patients who served as controls were analyzed.
The scans, which were gathered annually for four years, showed that the persons who had corticosteroid injections had worse arthritis progression than the other two groups.
According to Dr. Jonathan Samuels, a rheumatologist at NYU Langone Health, many factors can influence the onset of arthritis, and no two people are alike, making it difficult to determine causation in studies like the two most recent ones.
The researchers examined scans that were taken at the time of the injections and two years before and after. They discovered that the steroid-taking group had more severe cartilage degeneration by the two-year follow-up point.
READ MORE: David Mccullough, a Historian, and Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Has Passed Away
Arthritis Progression
READ MORE: Thanksgiving: As US Celebrates The Holiday, Americans Welcome the Event with Hungry Stomach
The study found that the arthritis progression was slowed down, particularly in the marrow lesions, in the group that got hyaluronic injections.
Researchers from the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science looked at the development of osteoarthritis in patients who had had corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid injections in the second study.
In the second study, specialists from the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science examined how arthritis manifested in individuals who had had corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid injections.
According to researcher and medical student Azad Darbandi, the study’s findings Azad Darbandi, indicate that hyaluronic acid injections should be further investigated for the management of knee arthritis symptoms and that steroid injections should be used with more caution.