A recent study in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) is finding a cardioprotective benefit from total hip and knee replacement!
As you may know, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world., with an estimated 17.3 million deaths each year. There are several factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular
disease, such as: high blood pressure, poorly controlled diabetes, smoking, high BMI (body mass index) = obesity, too much stress, use of non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and most recently a lack of physical activity.
It has been estimated that at least 40% of adults aged 65 or more are physically inactive – cause? Osteoarthritis. As expected osteoarthritis is the most common form arthritis, leading to functional limitations., which in turn has shown to increase all cause mortality. As such, procedures like hip and knee replacement are improving patients quality of life and increasing their physical activity level, which in turn is leading to an improvement in their cardiovascular disease.
Here is the link to the actual article:
http://www.epocrates.com/dacc/1311/TotalJointArthroplastyCVEventsBMJ1311.pdf
