Cortisone injections safe, Don't avoid because of knee damage fears, says study

Written By : Hina Zahid |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2021-12-08T09:00:41+05:30 | Updated On 8 Dec 2021 9:00 AM IST

Boston-Knee osteoarthritis (OA) also known as degenerative joint disease or "wear and tear" arthritis, affects one in eight Americans over the age of 50 and is associated with reduced quality of life and increased mortality. Cortisone shots, also known as intra-articular corticosteroid injections (CSI) and hyaluronic acid injections (HAI) are popular treatments for this disease yet recent studies have raised the concern that knees treated with CSI are at high risk of OA progression.

A new Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) study shows that cortisone injections in the knee do not cause significant cartilage loss or increase the risk of knee replacement.

Previous studies had suggested that cortisone injections might increase disease progression including cartilage loss, but "a limitation of previous studies is that subjects receiving CSI were not compared to those receiving comparable treatment. Patients receiving CSI have more advanced knee OA, itself a risk factor for disease progression," explained corresponding author David T. Felson, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and epidemiology at BUSM and Boston University School of Public Health.

Felson and his colleagues studied people with knee arthritis who were participants in two large longitudinal studies and who reported therapeutic injections into their knees with either cortisone or HAI. The latter treatment has been reported to delay knee replacement and it is thought to have no effect on cartilage loss. After seven years of follow-up, those who got steroid injections had no greater cartilage loss than those who got HAI and those who got steroid injections actually had a slightly reduced rate of knee replacements compared to those getting HAI.

According to the researchers, patients often receive CSI in an attempt to delay surgery. "Our data should provide reassurance to clinicians and patients. The risk of OA progression attributed to CSI in earlier studies may reflect more advanced disease in those receiving injections," added Felson who also is a rheumatologist at Boston Medical Center.

These findings appear in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.42031

cortisone injectionknee damagearthritis and rheumatology

Hina Zahid

Hina Zahid Joined Medical Dialogue in 2017 with a passion to work as a Reporter. She coordinates with various national and international journals and association and covers all the stories related to Medical guidelines, Medical Journals, rare medical surgeries as well as all the updates in the medical field. Email: editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751