Radiographic osteoarthritis and serum cholesterol

Objective:To find the relationship between radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee(OA) and serum cholesterol(SC. Methods: From Sept.1998 to March 99 ; 246 patients attending primary care clinics in Riyadh (KSA) were studied. Their knee,hands, and wrists were radiographed .Their age, sex, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), fasting serum cholesterol were recorded. Results: There were 113 females and 133 males with average age 46+-14.2 and 51.4+-16.0 years. 122(49.6%) cases of knee OA and 58 (23.6%) cases of generalized OA were found and analyzed for the association with SC levels. Crude odd ratio (OR) for the relationship between knee OA the third tertile of SC was 2.33(95%), CI, 1.19-4.58) which on adjusting for age sex, BMI , serum uric acid and trigelytrides were 2.68 (95% CI, 2.00-3.64). For generalized OA, the crude odds ratio,in relation to the third tertile of SC was 1.65 (95% CI, 0.78-3.53) adjusted. Conclusion: The results showed an association between high serum cholestrol level and both the knee and generalized OA. (author)