Abstract
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are prevalent in India. However, there is dearth of literature among Indians studying the relationship between the two. This study was carried out to assess various cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in patients with knee OA with an objective to investigate their association, screening and management. Methods:In total, 225 patients were included in this cross-sectional study. Participants were diagnosed with knee OA on the basis of the Kellgren and Lawrence (K-L) classification of their radiograph. Participants were also assessed for CV risk factors (age, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, smoking) with the help of the Joint British Society QRisk3 calculator (JBS3), which gave three variables: JBS3 risk score, heart age, and life expectancy.Chi Square, Fishers exact test and one-way ANOVA tests were used to compare the categorical and quantitative variables, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between CV risk factors and knee OA. Results:Patients with severe knee OA had a statistically significantly higher prevalence of CV risk factors (p<0.05). Grade 4 knee OA patients were found to have a mean JBS3 risk of 38%, heart age of 82 years and life expectancy of 77 years as compared to grade 2 patients who had a mean JBS3 risk of 11%, heart age of 63 years and life expectancy of 82 years. Conclusions:Our study concluded that there is a strong positive correlation between knee OA and CVD, with CV risk score being directly proportional to the severity of OA. JBS3 is a comprehensive risk score calculator as well as a screening tool, which produces three more comprehensive variables, namely 10-years risk of developing CVD, physiological heart age and life expectancy.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative joint disease, is the sixth most predominant cause of disability around the world and a well-established cause of restricted activity, disability, and low quality of life.[1]
All participants were over 50 years of age with more than half (53%) of them between the age of 50-60 years (Figure 1)
57% of the patients belonging to the lower socio-economic class as per the BG Prasad socioeconomic scale (SES) had knee OA grade 2, 33% of them had grade 3 and AGE DISTRIBUTION IN STUDY POPULATION
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative joint disease, is the sixth most predominant cause of disability around the world and a well-established cause of restricted activity, disability, and low quality of life.[1]. The etiology of OA is idiopathic, yet age, genetics, obesity, menopause, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus have been found to be major contributors.[4] Some of these risk factors that are directly involved and others indirectly involved in the etiopathogenesis of OA are seen to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), namely congestive heart failure (CHF), ischemic heart disease (IHD), transient ischemic attacks (TIA) and stroke.[4]. This study was carried out to assess various cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in patients with knee OA with an objective to investigate their association, screening and management. Participants were assessed for CV risk factors (age, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, smoking) with the help of the Joint British Society QRisk[3] calculator (JBS3), which gave three variables: JBS3 risk score, heart age, and life expectancy. Conclusions: Our study concluded that there is a strong positive correlation between knee OA and CVD, with CV risk score being version 3
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