HCQ Use May Reduce Risk of CV Events

In a recent study, findings suggest that there may be a preventative benefit to hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) use against cardiovascular (CV) events among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Using administrative health databases that included the population of British Columbia, Canada, the researchers investigated the association between HCQ use and cardiovascular events among patients with SLE or RA. Cases with incident CV events, such as myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, or venous thromboembolism (VTE), were identified. Those cases were then matched to 3 control cases, based on age, sex, and rheumatic disease. Researchers also determined how long it had been since HCQ exposure for each case, categorizing the time between the last HCQ prescription date covered and the index date as current use, recent use, remote use, or never used.

The researchers identified 10,268 cases of CV events and 29,969 controls. “Adjusted conditional odd ratios (cORs) (95% CI) for current HCQ use relative to remote use were 0.86 (0.77-0.97) for combined CV events, 0.88 (0.74, 1.05) for MI, 0.87 (0.74, 1.03) for stroke, and 0.74 (0.59, 0.94) for VTE,” the authors wrote. “Recent HCQ users and non-users had similar odds of combined CV events as remote users (cORs 0.93 [95% CI, 0.77-1.13] and 0.96 [95% CI, 0.88-1.04], respectively).”

The researchers concluded that current HCQ use is associated with a reduced risk of overall CV events, including reductions in VTE, and trends toward reductions in MI and stroke.

—Allison Casey

Reference:
Jorge A, Lu N, Choi H, et al. Hydroxychloroquine use and cardiovascular events among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Care & Res (Hoboken). Published online first: December 23, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.24850