Orthopaedic corticosteroid injections and risk of acute coronary syndrome: a cohort study

BackgroundCorticosteroid injections (CSIs) are a common treatment for arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions.AimTo determine whether there is an increased incidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) following intra-articular and soft-tissue CSI.Design and settingCohort study in an urban primary care orthopaedic clinic.MethodData were reviewed from all patients aged ≥50 years and seen by orthopaedic specialists between April 2012 and December 2015, including CSI, hospital admission in the week following the orthopaedic visit, and cardiovascular risk factors. The incidence of an ACS-associated hospital admission was compared between visits in which patients received CSIs and visits in which patients did not.ResultsA total of 60 856 orthopaedic visits were reviewed (22 131 individual patients). The mean age was 70.9 years (standard deviation [SD] = 10.8), and 66.5% were female. Injections were administered in 3068 visits (5.1%). In the week following the visit there were 25 ACS hospital admissions (41 per 100 000 visits); seven events were after visits with an injection, and 18 were after non-injection visits. Patients who had received an injection were more likely to experience a subsequent ACS. (227 versus 31 events per 100 000 visits, odds ratio [OR] = 7.3; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.8 to 19.1). The association between receiving a CSI and ACS remained similar when the analysis was restricted to subgroups defined by age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors.ConclusionCSI for musculoskeletal conditions may substantially increase the risk of ACS in the week following the injection. Although the absolute risk of ACS is small, the effect size appears to be clinically significant.

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Potential Relationship Between Lifestyle Changes and Incidence of Hospital Admissions for Acute Coronary Syndrome During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine ◽

10.3389/fcvm.2021.604374 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Grigorios Tsigkas ◽

Eleni-Evangelia Koufou ◽

Konstantinos Katsanos ◽

Panagiotis Patrinos ◽

Athanasios Moulias ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Acute Coronary Syndrome ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽

Hospital Admissions ◽

Telephone Survey ◽

Lifestyle Changes ◽

Inverse Association ◽

Coronary Syndrome ◽

The Impact

Aims: To evaluate the impact of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic on lifestyle changes of the general population, and on admissions for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Methods and Results: All ACS admissions during the COVID-19 lockdown (10 March to 4 May, 2020), in 3 municipalities (3 spoke, and 1 hub hospital), in Southwestern Greece (411,576 inhabitants), were prospectively recorded and compared to the equivalent periods during 2018, and 2019. A telephone survey of 1014 participants was conducted to explore the lifestyle habits of citizens aged ≥35-years-old before and during lockdown. The median ACS incidence rate decreased from 19.0 cases per week in 2018 and 21.5 in 2019 down to 13.0 in 2020 (RR: 0.66 during the Covid-19 lockdown; 95%CI: 0.53–0.82; P = 0.0002). This was driven by a significant reduction of admissions for Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) (RR: 0.68; 95%CI: 0.52–0.88; P = 0.0037), mainly in patients with a lower burden of cardiovascular risk factors, as we noticed an inverse association between the reduction of the incidence of ACS during the Covid-19 lockdown period and the number of registered patient risk factors. There was no difference in the rates of STEMI and population-based all-cause mortality across the examined time periods. The telephone survey demonstrated reduction of passive smoking, working hours, alcohol, junk food and salt consumption, and an increase in sleeping hours, mainly in participants with a lower burden of cardiovascular risk factors.Conclusions: A significant decline in ACS admissions during the COVID-19 lockdown was noted, affecting mainly NSTEMI patients with a lower burden of cardiovascular risk factors. This was accompanied by significant lifestyle changes. Thus, it is tempting to speculate that to some extend the latter might be associated with the observed decline in ACS admissions.

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