Patients with osteoarthritis may have more chronic diseases

Patients with osteoarthritis may have a higher likelihood of developing multiple chronic diseases, according to a study published in RMD Open.

Investigators analyzed the prevalence of chronic diseases in 9,846 patients with osteoarthritis and the same number of age-matched controls from 1998 to 2019.

The investigators grouped the patients into four distinct classes of chronic disease progression: mild multimorbidity with late progression (Class 1), mild multimorbidity with early progression (Class 2), moderate multimorbidity (Class 3), and severe multimorbidity (Class 4).

Although the patients in all four classes had a lower number of chronic conditions at the start of the study, by the end of the study period, the patients in Class 4 had an average of 9.6 vs. 2.9 chronic conditions compared with those in Class 1.

The investigators hypothesized that low-grade inflammation and metabolic dysregulation may increase the risk of chronic conditions in this patient population.

Read more: RMD Open

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