Association of metabolic syndrome in patients with osteoarthritis

Objective: To determine association of osteoarthritis (OA) with metabolic syndrome in a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Patients were randomly interviewed in the Female Rheumatology department and a total of 240 patients with single rheumatologic disease and age >35 years were selected. Informed consent was taken and patients were interviewed using a self-made questionnaire to evaluate their medical history, physical and laboratory examination. SPSS version 17 was used to analyze the data. Results: Out of 240 subjects, 81 patients had OA and another 81 patients were randomly selected from the age and gender matched control (non-OA) group. The mean age of patients in OA and non-OA group was 56.68 ± 09.76 and 53.57 ± 11.01 years, respectively. In OA group, 48.1% and in non-OA group 22.2% of patients were falling in category of being obese/morbidly obese. According to AHA criteria for Metabolic Syndrome, percentage of OA patients labeled to have metabolic syndrome was 58.8% as compared to 19.5% in non-OA group. Conclusion: There was a strong association of metabolic syndrome with OA and would surely make a foreground for future studies to be conducted on developing preventive strategies and ultimately reducing the morbidities and mortalities associated with Metabolic Osteoarthritis. (author)