Antihypertensive effects of calcium channel blockers (CCB) do not diminish when taken in conjunction with anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy in osteoarthritis patients, a study suggests.

CCBs were also found to work better than any other antihypertensive drug classes when administered with NSAIDs.

The findings were presented at the 57th annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology and published in the journal of the American College of Cardiology, DGDispatch reports.

In the post-hoc multivariate analysis of the Multinational etoricoxib and diclofenac Arthritis Long-Term (MEDAL) study, participants received etoricoxib 60 mg or diclofenac 150 mg daily for a mean duration of 20 months.

Evaluation for the differential effect of baseline antihypertensive therapy versus no antihypertensive therapy on the change from baseline in systolic blood pressure (SBP) was carried out at four months.

The proportion of patients exceeding the predefined limits of change (PLoC) in SBP was also analysed.

Patients who were on multi-drug antihypertensive therapy at baseline achieved a significantly greater reduction in SBP after four months than patients not receiving antihypertensive medication at baseline.

Use of renin-angiotensin monotherapy was found to be associated with a significant increase in SBP from baseline.

CCB monotherapy was not associated with a significant change in SBP from baseline.

"As a result [of these findings], clinicians should consider the use of CCBs as a reasonable antihypertensive therapy option in patients with osteoarthritis and hypertension who require NSAID treatment," lead author Dr Henry Krum concluded.

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