OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CARDIOVASCULAR PATHOLOGY IN OLDER PERSONS: CLINICAL AND PATHOGENETIC RELATIONSHIP
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common medical conditions in elderly people. This article presents the survey data on a problem of poly-morbidities (co-morbidities) at osteoarthritis. Special attention is paid to a combination of osteoarthritis with cardiovascular pathology, and also the data testifying the association between osteoarthritis and the increased death rate from cardiovascular pathology. On the basis of the literature data analysis a hypothesis about an etiopathogenic interrelation between osteoarthritis and cardiovascular pathology is presented. According to the authors, potential pathogenetic links include a chronic nonspecific inflammation and metabolic infringements. There are also evidences that vascular pathology may initiate and/or worsen the disease progression. The important factors aggravating a current cardiovascular disease in patients with osteoarthritis are: the restriction of physical activities and irrational pharmacotherapy of osteoarthritis clinical symptoms (increased risk of cardiovascular accidents is considered as a class-specific side-effect for all NSAIDs). The authors present the own data on rational pharmacotherapy of patients with osteoarthritis and somatic pathology by means of SYSADOA influencing the disease symptoms and being able to modify structural changes (glucosamine, chondroitine sulphate - ARTRA).