Study of Correlation of Hyperuricemia with Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

The present study was conducted to identify the link between increased uric acid and osteoarthritis and to find out the prevalence of hyperuricemia in population suffering from osteoarthritis of knee. Material and Method: The study was conducted on 100 patients (male and female between the age of 40- 70 years) with knee pain for more than 6 weeks to establish a correlation between knee osteoarthritis and hyperuricemia. Result: In the current study female preponderance was seen. Mean age of the patients was 50.10 years and maximum patients were in the age group of 40-50 years. KOA patients had higher values of uric acid as compared to patients without KOA however no stastically significant relation was found between increasing uric acid levels and severity of KOA with p-value .668 being insignificant. The mean BMI of patients with KOA was higher than the patients without KOA but no statistical significant relation was found between increased incidence of KOA in females as compared to males with increasing BMI p-value 0.777 being insignificant. There was no statistically significant correlation between hyperuricemia and either gender with p-value being >.0.05 (0.119). VAS and WOMAC scoring was done at 0 and 16 weeks however no significant improvement was seen except for the pain component which improved in KOA patients. Conclusion: In this present study we observed increased prevalence of OA knee in females and in patients with hyperuricemia and also with patients with higher BMI. Serum levels of CRP and ESR also show positive prevalence in patients with KOA in this study. However, no s statistically significant correlation was observed between levels of hyperuricemia and severity of KOA. Hence in conclusion our study points towards positive correlation between hyperuricemia and KOA. Limitations of our study included inability to homogenise groups in terms of BMI, age, activity level, smoking, alcohol etc.