Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Osteoarthritis is one of the ten debilitating diseases in developing countries. This study was designed to examine the effect of Burdock root tea on lipid profile and blood pressure in patient with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: This was a randomized one-way blinded 6- week clinical trial. Thirty-six patients (10 men and 26 women) aged 50-70 year-old with knee osteoarthritis referred to the physical medicine and rehabilitation department of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Hospitals, were selected for the study and divided into two groups randomly. For all individuals along the 42 days of study period, the same drug treatments including physiotherapy (20 an-hour sessions for both knees) and two lots of 500 mg acetaminophen twice a day and one glucosamine 500 mg once a day were considered. The intervention group received daily 3 cups of Burdock root tea Control group received 3 cups contain 150 cc boiled water daily. Venous blood samples were collected at baseline and after 6 weeks the intervention to measure lipid profile parameters and their ratios before and after the intervention. Systolic and Diastolic blood pressure were also measured and analyzed. Anthropometric measurements, physical activity levels and nutrients intake were evaluated before and after intervention. Differences between the two groups and among the each group were analyzed using independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, analysis of covariance, paired sample t-test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, sign test, chi-square and McNemar test. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis.

Results: A significant reduction in levels of total cholesterol, TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratios, systolic, diastolic and mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a significant increase in HDL-C levels was observed in intervention group compared with the control group (p<0.05). The mean and standard deviations of HDL-C, LDL-C, ratio of TC / HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C, diastolic and mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly different between the two groups at the end of the study (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The results showed that Arctium lappa l. root tea consumption with reduction in blood pressure, levels of LDL-C, ratios of TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C and increase in levels of HDL-C could control and improve lipid profile and blood pressure status in patient with knee osteoarthritis (OA). But yet, the mechanism of effects of hypolipidemic and decrease in blood pressure of Arctium lappa l. is not clear, so more studies are need in this field.