Knee OA (not Hand) is Associated with Higher Mortality in Women Save

"Doc....the pain is killing me."

This oft heard patient complaint may be truer than you think.

Researchers from the UK analyzed a community-based registry (Chingford Cohort Study) and analyzed for subsets of osteoarthritis (OA) patients: those with radiographic OA of the hand or knee and those with or without pain in the preceding month. Women with knee OA (n 821) and hand OA (n 808) were followed for up to 23 years. When comparing those with and without pain, hand OA had no effect on overall mortality.

However, painful knee OA (without radiographic evidence) had an increased risk of cardiovascular (CVD) mortality (HR 2.93 (95% CI 1.47 to 5.85). Knee OA with radiographic evidence also had an increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.97; 95% CI 1.23 to 3.17) and an even higher risk of CVD-specific mortality (3.57; 95% CI 1.53 to 8.34). A significantly greater risk of all-cause and CVD-specific mortality in women experiencing knee pain with or without X-ray evidence of OA shows that pain, moreso than structural change, can significantly augment mortality risk.