hheadmin, Author at Hospital Healthcare Europe

Press Releases

Take a look at a selection of our recent media coverage:

Positive opinion for cannabidiol oral solution in two rare childhood-onset epilepsies

29th July 2019

GW Pharmaceuticals has announced that the CHMP has adopted a positive opinion recommending marketing authorisation of Epidyolex (cannabidiol oral solution) for use as adjunctive therapy of seizures associated with Lennox‑Gastaut syndrome (LGS) or Dravet syndrome, in conjunction with clobazam, for patients 2 years of age and older.

The European Commission is expected to make a final decision on the marketing authorisation application in approximately two months.

“Today’s positive CHMP opinion for Epidyolex™ marks a major milestone for patients, and their families, battling to control two of the most severe and life-threatening forms of childhood onset epilepsy. Cannabidiol oral solution is the first in a new class of epilepsy medicines and the first plant-derived cannabis-based medicine to be submitted for European regulatory review, representing a historic breakthrough,” said Justin Gover, GW’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are excited by the potential to bring patients and physicians a rigorously tested and evaluated cannabis-based medicine with a documented safety and efficacy profile, manufactured to the highest standards and approved by a medicines regulator.”

“This is a significant milestone for patients with LGS and Dravet syndrome as there remains a severe unmet medical need for these rare, lifelong forms of epilepsy,” said Professor Martin Brodie, President, International Bureau for Epilepsy. “Today’s positive opinion brings hope to both patients and their families of a treatment option which has the potential to better control seizures and notably improve quality of life.”

“In my clinic, I often see patients with these highly treatment-resistant epilepsies who have tried and failed existing therapies. These patients and their families face a long and challenging road and very few achieve adequate seizure control,” said Dr Antonio Gil-Nagel Rein, Director of the Epilepsy Programme, Ruber International Hospital, Madrid. “Based on numerous clinical trials and the scrutiny of the European medicines regulator, this medicine has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of many patients.”

The CHMP’s positive opinion is based on results from four randomised, controlled Phase III trials. These studies incorporate data from more than 714 patients with either LGS or Dravet syndrome, two forms of epilepsy with high morbidity and mortality rates, which place a significant burden on families and caregivers. Many patients with LGS or Dravet syndrome have multiple seizures per day, which puts them at ongoing risk of falls and injury. Despite current anti-epileptic drug treatment, both of these severe forms of epilepsy remain highly treatment-resistant.

Positive opinion for cannabidiol oral solution in two rare childhood-onset epilepsies

High levels of oestrogen in the womb linked to autism

Scientists have identified a link between exposure to high levels of oestrogen sex hormones in the womb and the likelihood of developing autism.

The findings have been published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.¹

In 2015, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the State Serum Institute in Denmark measured the levels of four prenatal steroid hormones, including two known as androgens, in the amniotic fluid in the womb and discovered that they were higher in male foetuses who later developed autism. These androgens are produced in higher quantities in male than in female foetuses on average, so might also explain why autism occurs more often in boys. They are also known to masculinise parts of the brain, and to have effects on the number of connections between brain cells.

Today, the same scientists have built on their previous findings by testing the amniotic fluid samples from the same 98 individuals sampled from the Danish Biobank, which has collected amniotic samples from over 100,000 pregnancies, but this time looking at oestrogens. This is an important next step because some of the hormones previously studied are directly converted into oestrogens.

All four oestrogens were significantly elevated, on average, in the 98 foetuses who later developed autism, compared to the 177 foetuses who did not. High levels of prenatal oestrogens were even more predictive of likelihood of autism than were high levels of prenatal androgens (such as testosterone). Contrary to popular belief that associates oestrogens with feminisation, prenatal oestrogens have effects on brain growth and also masculinise the brain in many mammals.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who led this study and who first proposed the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, said: “This new finding supports the idea that increased prenatal sex steroid hormones are one of the potential causes for the condition. Genetics is well established as another, and these hormones likely interact with genetic factors to affect the developing foetal brain.”

Alex Tsompanidis, a PhD student in Cambridge who worked on the study, said: “These elevated hormones could be coming from the mother, the baby or the placenta. Our next step should be to study all these possible sources and how they interact during pregnancy.”

Dr Alexa Pohl, part of the Cambridge team, said: “This finding is exciting because the role of oestrogens in autism has hardly been studied, and we hope that we can learn more about how they contribute to foetal brain development in further experiments. We still need to see whether the same result holds true in autistic females.”

However, the team cautioned that these findings cannot and should not be used to screen for autism. “We are interested in understanding autism, not preventing it,” added Professor Baron-Cohen.

Dr Arieh Cohen, the biochemist on the team, based at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen, said: “This is a terrific example of how a unique biobank set up 40 years ago is still reaping scientific fruit today in unimagined ways, through international collaboration.”

Reference

Baron-Cohen S et al. Foetal oestrogens and autism. Molecular Psychiatry; 29 July 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0454-9

High levels of oestrogen in the womb linked to autism

Stelara receives positive opinion for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis

26th July 2019

The CHMP has adopted a positive opinion recommending marketing authorisation in the EU for the use of ustekinumab for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC), who have had an inadequate response with, lost response to, or were intolerant to either conventional therapy or a biologic or have medical contraindications to such therapies.

“Ulcerative colitis is a particularly disruptive, life-long condition with unpredictable flares that can negatively impact every aspect of patients’ lives. More treatments that offer long-term relief are urgently needed as, despite currently available treatment options, many people with the condition continue to suffer symptoms,” said Jaime Oliver, MD, Janssen Therapeutic Area Lead, Immunology, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Cilag GmbH International. “We welcome the CHMP’s positive opinion on ustekinumab, which brings us one step closer to making this important medicine available for people with ulcerative colitis in Europe, potentially offering them a chance of durable remission and symptomatic relief.”

Ustekinumab is the first treatment to selectively target the IL-12/IL-23 pathway, an important therapeutic target in UC. The CHMP adopted the opinion based on data from the pivotal Phase III UNIFI trial programme which demonstrated ustekinumab’s efficacy as a treatment option for patients with moderately to severely active UC who demonstrated an inadequate response to or were unable to tolerate conventional (for example, corticosteroids or immunomodulators) or biologic (tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha antagonists or vedolizumab) therapies.

Ustekinumab has demonstrated a favourable safety profile in UC where trials show the treatment is well tolerated. In the primary randomised population of the Induction and Maintenance studies, a similar proportion of patients in the ustekinumab and placebo groups experienced adverse events (AE), serious AEs, infections and serious infections through to week 44. During the UNIFI Induction phase one death from an oesophageal varices haemorrhage was reported, and no malignancies, opportunistic infections or tuberculosis were reported. During the UNIFI Maintenance phase, no deaths and two malignancies other than non‑melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) were reported (90mg ustekinumab q8w: colon cancer [n=1]; 90mg ustekinumab q12w: papillary renal cell carcinoma [n=1]). There was one patient-reported NMSC in the 90mg ustekinumab q12w group (two squamous cell carcinoma events).

Following this positive opinion, a final decision from the European Commission regarding its marketing authorisation is expected later this year.

Stelara receives positive opinion for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis

Antibiotics can inhibit skin lymphoma

Many patients with the rare lymphoma cancer, CTCL, contract staphylococcal infections in the skin. CTCL is a cancer in the T-cells of the immune system, which shows in the skin. Therefore, the patient’s immune system is weakened and the skin is less resistant to bacteria.

In a new study, researchers from the LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, the University of Copenhagen, have – in collaboration with Aarhus and Zealand University Hospitals and Aarhus University – shown that aggressive treatment with antibiotics not only inhibits the staphylococcal bacteria, but also the cancer cells. The number of cancer cells is reduced and the cancer is significantly diminished for a period of time in patients with severe skin inflammation.

During a staphylococcal infection, the healthy immune cells in the body are working at full throttle. They produce growth substances called cytokines, which are used to get the immune system up and running. The cancer cells latch onto the growth substances, using them to accelerate their own growth. The research results show for the first time that the antibiotic treatment can slow down this process.

‘When we inhibit the staphylococcal bacteria with antibiotics, we simultaneously remove the activation of the immune cells. This means that they do not produce as many cytokines, and therefore the cancer cells cannot get the extra ‘fuel’. As a result, the cancer cells are inhibited from growing as fast as they did during the bacterial attack. This finding is ground-breaking as it is the first time ever that we see this connection between bacteria and cancer cells in patients, says Professor Niels Ødum from the LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center.

The finding is the result of many years’ research where the researchers have conducted molecular studies and laboratory tests, taken tissue samples from skin and blood and conducted clinical studies of carefully selected patients.

Eager to find new treatments

So far, CTCL patients with infections in the skin have only reluctantly been given antibiotics because it was feared that the infection would come back as antibiotic-resistant staphylococci after the treatment. The researchers behind the finding believe that the new results will change this.

‘It has previously been seen that antibiotics have had some kind of positive effect on some of these patients, but it has never been studied what it actually does to the cancer itself. Our finding shows that it may actually be a good idea to give patients with staphylococci on the skin this treatment because it inhibits the cancer and at the same time possibly reduces the risk of new infections‘, says Niels Ødum.

It is still difficult to say whether the new knowledge may be transferred to other types of cancer. For the researchers at the LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center, the next step is to initially look more closely at the link between cancer and bacteria.

‘We do not know if this finding is only valid for lymphoma. We see it particularly in this type of cancer because it is a cancer within the immune system. The cancer cells already ‘understand’ the signals that the immune cells send out. When the immune cells are put to work, so are the cancer cells. At any rate, it is very interesting and relevant to take a closer look at the interaction between bacteria and cancer, which we see here‘, says Niels Ødum.

‘The next step will be the development of new treatments that only target the ‘bad’ bacteria, without harming the ‘good’ bacteria, which protects the skin‘, he says.

Lonsurf receives positive CHMP opinion

The CHMP has issued a positive opinion for Lonsurf (trifluridine/tipiracil) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic gastric cancer including adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction, who have been previously treated with at least two prior systemic treatment regimens for advanced disease.

The CHMP’s opinion will now be sent to the European Commission for the adoption of the decision.

“The positive opinion from the CHMP for Lonsurf is very welcomed; patients with metastatic gastric cancer have few therapeutic options remaining, so it is of the upmost importance new therapies are made available. The Phase III trial TAGS demonstrated that Lonsurf was effective and tolerable for these patients and gave patients valuable months of life,” said Professor Josep Tabernero, Head of the Medical Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona and Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).

The marketing authorisation application was supported by data from the global Phase III trial TAGS (TAS-102 Gastric Study) which was a randomised, double-blind study evaluating Lonsurf, plus best supportive care (BSC) versus placebo plus BSC in patients with metastatic gastric cancer refractory to standard treatments. Lonsurf demonstrated significant improvement in overall survival (OS) (HR=0.69 [95% CI 0.56-0.85], p=0.00029) compared to placebo plus BSC. The median OS in patients treated with Lonsurf and BSC was 5.7 months compared to 3.6 months when treated with placebo and BSC, and there was a 31% risk reduction of death. The overall safety profile was consistent with the known safety profile of Lonsurf in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), with mainly haematological adverse events reported.

“Today’s announcement is one step closer to ensuring patients with metastatic gastric cancer have another treatment option, bringing an incremental survival benefit over the standard of care,” said Patrick Therasse, Head of Servier Research and Development Oncology. “Gastric cancer is difficult to treat and each step forward is a major event.”

Currently in the EU, Lonsurf is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have been previously treated with, or are not considered candidates for, available therapies including fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapies, anti-VEGF agents, and anti-EGFR agents.

Bee sting vaccine trial holds promise in allergic adults

25th July 2019

Australian researchers have successfully completed a trial on a vaccine designed to eliminate the risk of a severe allergic reaction to European honeybee stings.

The clinical trial at Flinders University and the Royal Adelaide Hospital included 27 adults with a history of allergic reactions to bee stings.

The vaccine used in the trial contained a unique sugar-based ingredient called an adjuvant, developed in Australia, which is designed to help the body neutralise the bee venom at a faster rate.

Professor Nikolai Petrovsky says the adjuvant used to enhance the bee sting vaccines has now been successfully given to over a thousand individuals across a range of different vaccines including in the current bee sting allergy trial.

“Our technology is like adding a turbocharger to a car and in this case makes the bee allergy vaccine much more powerful, allowing the immune system to better neutralise the bee venom and prevent allergic symptoms,” says Professor Petrovsky.

Associate Professor Robert Heddle, lead investigator in the trial, says the aim was to see if the Advax adjuvant would safely speed up and improve bee sting immunotherapy.

“The results of the study were very promising and confirmed the safety of this approach to improving bee sting immunotherapy.”

Dr Anthony Smith, an investigator in the trial, says while a commercial bee venom therapy is already available, it requires patients to have over 50 injections over a 3 year period to build up their immune system.

“The current treatment option for serious bee venom allergies is lengthy and cumbersome, so I hope this enhanced bee venom therapy brings about faster, but longer lasting protection to bee stings for allergic individuals.”

Reference
Heddle R et al. Randomized controlled trial demonstrating the benefits of delta inulin adjuvanted immunotherapy in patients with bee venom allergy. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2019;DOI:10.1016/j.jaci.2019.03.035

Bee sting vaccine trial holds promise in allergic adults

Finger-prick blood test could safely reduce antibiotic use in patients with COPD

A simple finger-prick blood test could help prevent unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics for people with COPD, according to a new study by researchers from Cardiff University, University of Oxford and King’s College London.

With funding from the National Institute for Health Research, the team demonstrated that using a CRP finger-prick blood test resulted in 20% fewer people using antibiotics for COPD flare-ups.

Importantly, this reduction in antibiotic use did not have a negative effect on patients’ recovery over the first two weeks after their consultation at their GP surgery, or on their well-being or use of health care services over the following six months.

Safely reducing the use of antibiotics in this way may help in the battle against antibiotic resistance.

More than a million people in the UK have COPD, which is a lung condition associated with smoking and other environmental pollutants. People living with the condition often experience exacerbations, or flare-ups, and when this happens, three out of four are prescribed antibiotics. However, two -thirds of these flare-ups are not caused by bacterial infections and antibiotics often do not benefit patients.

Professor Nick Francis, from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, said: “Governments, commissioners, clinicians, and patients living with COPD around the world are urgently seeking tools to help them know when it is safe to withhold antibiotics and focus on treating flare-ups with other treatments.

“This is a patient population that are often considered to be at high risk from not receiving antibiotics, but we were able to achieve a reduction in antibiotic use that is about twice the magnitude of that achieved by most other antimicrobial stewardship interventions, and demonstrate that this approach was safe.”

The finger-prick test measures the amount of C- reactive protein (CRP) – a marker of inflammation that rises rapidly in the blood in response to serious infections. People with a COPD flare-up who have a low CRP level in the blood appear to receive little benefit from antibiotic treatment.

Professor Chris Butler, from the University of Oxford, said: “This rigorous clinical trial speaks directly to the pressing issues of; preserving the usefulness of our existing antibiotics; the potential of stratified, personalised care; the importance of contextually-appropriate evidence about point of care testing in reducing unnecessary antibiotic use, and; enhancing the quality of care for people with the common condition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“Most antibiotics are prescribed in primary medical care, and many of these prescriptions do not benefit patients: point of care testing is being vigorously promoted as a critical solution for better targeted antibiotic prescribing. However, there have been virtually no trials of point of care tests that measure impact on clinician behaviour, patient behaviour and patient outcomes. Acute exacerbations of chronic pulmonary disease account for considerable proportion of unnecessary antibiotic use, but a good solution to the problem in ambulatory care (where most of the antibiotics are prescribed) has not been identified until now. Ours is the first trial of biomarker guided management of AECOPD in ambulatory care, and has found an effect that should be practice-changing.”

Jonathan Bidmead and Margaret Barnard were the patient and public representatives on the PACE study, providing a voice for patients with COPD: Jonathan Bidmead commented: “We need to highlight not only how many people are saved by antibiotics but also that many are harmed though unnecessary antibiotic use. As a COPD sufferer, I know that antibiotics are routinely used at the first sign of an exacerbation: this study has shown that doctors can use a simple finger-prick test in a consultation to better identify those instances where antibiotics will probably do no good and may even do some harm. This can help us focus on other treatments that may be more helpful for some exacerbations.”

Professor Hywel Williams, Director of the NIHR’s Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, said: “This is a really important study which provides clear evidence that a simple biomarker blood test carried out in GP surgeries on people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease experiencing flare-ups, has the potential to reduce unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics, without adversely affecting recovery from these flare-ups. This in turn helps tackle the wider global health hazards of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

“The NIHR is committed to research in areas of greatest health need, such as AMR. This study is one of a number which we have funded over the last few years in this crucial area, in our sustained effort to tackle this worldwide threat.“

Reference
Butler C. C-Reactive Protein Testing to Guide Antibiotic Prescribing for COPD Exacerbations. N Engl J Med 2019;381(2):111 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1803185

Finger-prick blood test could safely reduce antibiotic use in patients with COPD

Ivacaftor may reduce common infections in patients with CF

19th July 2019

Patients with cystic fibrosis who take ivacaftor appear to have fewer respiratory infections over time than those not taking the drug, according to research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Ivacaftor (Kalydeco^®) is prescribed to patients whose CF is caused by a “gating” mutation. This group of mutations, which are responsible for about 4% of all CF cases, prevents chloride from moving in and out of cells. By restoring the gate’s function, ivacaftor has been shown to improve lung function and quality of life.

In “Ivacaftor Is Associated with Reduced Lung Infection by Key Cystic Fibrosis Pathogens: A Cohort Study Using National Registry Data,” researchers in the UK report that ivacaftor may also reduce some of the most common lung infections in patients with CF, including P. aeruginosa. If this is true, they say, it may mean that some patients taking ivacaftor can take fewer antibiotics long term and still remain clinically stable.

“People with CF notice improvement in lung function and quality of life soon after they start taking ivacaftor, but they still have to live with a considerable treatment burden from all the other medications they take,” said lead author Freddy Frost, BMBS, a cystic fibrosis physician at Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital. “At present, we simply don’t know whether it’s safe to stop some of those other treatments. The fact we have seen reduced infections in this study suggests there may be some people who can safely discontinue medications targeted towards those infections.”

Using data from a CF registry in the UK, the authors compared CF patients (age six and older) who took ivacaftor with those CF patients who did not take the drug over a three-year period.

The study found that ivacaftor was associated with a 32% reduction in the number of people infected with P. aeruginosa and a 15% reduction in Staphylococcus aureus. These reductions resulted from both increased clearance of the infection in those already infected and in reduced acquisition in those not infected.

The authors said that with people starting ivacaftor and other drugs that correct defects in the CF gene from an early age, the possibility of preventing these infections is particularly exciting. “If these drugs are taken before chronic infection starts, the risk of developing infection in the future may be reduced considerably,” Dr. Frost said.

Ivacaftor was also associated with reduced Aspergillus spp. infections. The drug did not appear to reduce Burkholderia cepacia complex infections.

Dr. Frost said that the study adds to the increasing evidence of the long-term benefits of ivacaftor. “However,” he added, “randomised, controlled trials will be needed to know if it is safe to reduce the overall treatment burden of CF by decreasing antibiotic use in patients taking ivacaftor or other drugs that target defects in the CF gene.”

Ivacaftor may reduce common infections in patients with CF

Study pinpoints cell types affected in brains of multiple sclerosis patients

18th July 2019

Scientists have discovered that a specific brain cell known as a ‘projection neuron’ has a central role to play in the brain changes seen in multiple sclerosis (MS).

The research, published in Nature, shows that projection neurons are damaged by the body’s own immune cells, and that this damage could underpin the brain shrinkage and cognitive changes associated with MS. These new findings provide a platform for specific new MS therapies that target damaged brain cells to be developed.

Previous research has shown that the brain cortex shrinks over time in MS patients, known as cortical atrophy. The processes driving this cortical shrinkage have, until now, been unclear.

In a new international study from the University of Cambridge, University of Heidelberg and University of California, San Francisco, researchers used post-mortem human brain samples from MS patients to study a wide range of cell types implicated in the disease, and compared their findings to brain samples donated from people that did not have MS.

“Using a new technique called single nuclei RNA sequencing, we were able to study the genetic make-up of individual brain cells to understand why some cells might be more susceptible to damage in MS than others,” said Dr Lucas Schirmer, lead scientist on the project from the University of Heidelberg.

“Our results showed that a particular type of nerve cell called “projection neurons” were particularly vulnerable to damage in the brains of MS patients.”

In healthy people, these projection neurons are involved in communicating information between different areas of the brain. It is therefore possible that the damage to these cells can affect cognitive abilities in MS patients. Moreover, the loss of this particular cell types helps explain why brains of MS patients shrink over time – the more cells that are damaged and lost, the less space the brain takes up.

The researchers also showed that immune cells in the brains of MS patients were targeting projection neurons and causing cell stress and damage.

“We found that antibody-producing immune cells are related to the damage of the important projection neurons in MS brains,” said Professor David Rowitch from the University of Cambridge, the senior scientist coordinating the research. “This suggests that cell therapies targeting these immune cells could protect projection neurons and provide a novel treatment for progressive MS.”

Dr Dmitry Velmeshev and Professor Arnold Kriegstein from the University of California, San Francisco worked together to develop the techniques used to analyse the genetic code within the individual brain cells.

“These new techniques have wide applicability in the understanding of human neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders and are providing new insight into not only MS, but also autism spectrum disorder,” said Professor Arnold Kriegstein.

Dr Andrew Welchman, Head of Neuroscience at Wellcome, said: “This study uses state-of-the-art measurements of gene expression to provide a valuable new window onto the process by which inflammation in the brain causes MS to progress. This new insight should stimulate further development of treatments that could freeze the disease in its tracks. It is an exciting advance that attests to the importance of cutting-edge genetic tools in understanding diseases of the brain.”

Dr Bruce Bebo, Executive Vice President for Research at the National MS Society (USA) said: “Research, such as Professor Rowitch’s on projection neurons in MS brain tissue, contributes to our understanding of the underlying pathology in MS and is likely to lead to better, more targeted ways to stop the disease, protect the nervous system from further injury, and slow down progression.”

Study pinpoints cell types affected in brains of multiple sclerosis patients

Osteoarthritis linked to higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have investigated the link between osteoarthritis and mortality in an epidemiological study. It was shown that the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was higher for people with osteoarthritis than for the rest of the population.

Using population registers, the researchers studied approximately 469,000 people living in Skåne, Sweden, who in 2003 were between 45 and 84 years old and followed them through to 2014. The group included 16,000 patients with knee arthritis, 9000 with hip arthritis, 4000 with wrist arthritis and 5500 with other forms of osteoarthritis. They had all been diagnosed in 2003 or before.

“We looked at the cause of death for those who died between 2004 and 2014 and who had previously been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and compared the results with the rest of the population in the same region. The groups were not different in terms of most causes of death, but we saw the risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease was higher for those with an osteoarthritis diagnosis. The risk did not increase in the short term after the osteoarthritis diagnosis, but the longer a person had had osteoarthritis, the higher the risk of mortality from cardiovascular diseases compared with the background population, e.g. if a person had a knee arthritis diagnosis for 9 to 11 years, the risk was 16% higher,” says Martin Englund, professor at Lund University and physician at Skåne University Hospital, who led the study.

This means that for every 100,000 inhabitants who have had osteoarthritis for 9-11 years, 40 more die of cardiovascular diseases per year, compared with the population without osteoarthritis (in corresponding gender and age distribution).

The study did not investigate the mechanisms behind osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease and the causal link is not fully known. However, Martin Englund has a theory on the reason behind the results.

“Osteoarthritis causes pain, which often results in people not being as mobile and becoming sedentary instead. Thus, there is a risk of weight gain, which we know leads to secondary diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. There are also other background factors in common for osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease. Inflammation can be a contributory cause of osteoarthritis, and can also lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Regardless, it’s important to be physically active and keep body weight in check. In many countries there are special education programs for those suffering from osteoarthritis where you can get information on the disease as well as help and exercise advice,” concludes Martin Englund.