Takeaway
- Osteoarthritis (OA) was positively associated with the incidence of fractures.
- This association between OA and fracture was significant in all sex, age and OA joint site subgroups.
Why this matters
- Findings highlight the urgent need for intervention to reduce the risk of fracture in adults with OA.
- Future studies are warranted to gain a better insight into the mediators involved in the association between OA and fracture.
Study design
- A retrospective cohort study of 129,348 patients who had received an initial diagnosis of OA (aged, ≥18 years) in one of 256 general practices in the UK between 1997 and 2016 (index date).
- Patients with OA were matched (1:1) to those without OA by sex, age, index year, diabetes, dementia, corticosteroid therapy and practice.
- All patients were followed from the index date for up to 10 years for incidence of any fracture.
- Funding: None.
Key results
- After 10 years of follow-up, 12.1% of participants with OA and 7.7% of those without OA had suffered ≥1 fracture (log-rank P<.001).
- A positive and significant association was seen between OA and fracture (HR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.50-1.60; P<.001).
- The association between OA and fracture was significant in all sex, age and OA joint site subgroups (HR; 95% CI):
- men (1.58; 1.48-1.69);
- women (1.55; 1.49-1.61);
- age 18-50 years (1.62; 1.48-1.78);
- age 51-60 years (1.40; 1.30-1.51);
- age 61-70 years (1.42; 1.32-1.53);
- age 71-80 years (1.56; 1.45-1.67);
- age >80 years (1.61; 1.47-1.75);
- polyarthritis group (1.60; 1.41-1.81);
- hip OA group (1.40; 1.23-1.60);
- knee OA group (1.36; 1.16-1.59); and
- other and unspecified OA group (1.57; 1.51-1.63).
Limitations
- Retrospective design.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.