Radiographic osteoarthritis and serum cholesterol

ABSTRACT

To find out the relationship between radiographic osteoarthritis [OA] of the knee, generalized OA and serum cholesterol. Over a period of 7 months from September 1998 through to March 1999, 246 patients attending 14 primary care clinics in Northern Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for different non-musculoskeletal complaints were recruited in the study. Their knees, hands and wrists were radiographed. Their ages, sex, weight, height, body mass index [BMI], fasting serum cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid were recorded. There were 113 females and 133 males with average ages 46 +/- 14.2 and 51.54 +/- 16.0 years. One hundred and twenty-two [49.6%] cases of knee OA and 58 [23.6%] cases of generalized OA were found and analyzed for the association with serum cholesterol levels. Crude odds ratio [OR] for the relationship between knee OA and the third tertile of serum cholesterol was 2.33 [95% CI, 1.19-4.58] which on adjusting for age, sex, BMI, serum uric acid and triglycerides were 2.68 [95% CI, 2.00-3.64]. For generalized OA, the crude odds ratio [OR] in relation to the third tertile of serum cholesterol was 1.65 [95% CI, 0.78-3.53], adjusted OR was 2.18 [95% CI, 1.55-3.15]. The results showed an association between high serum cholesterol level and both knee and generalized OA