Premature or low birth-weight babies may need new hips in adulthood

Babies with a low birth weight and those who are premature could be at risk of osteoarthritis-related hip replacements in adulthood according to new findings in Arthritis Care & Research. But the same isn’t true for osteoarthritis-related knee replacements.
Previous studies found that low birth weight and premature birth are linked to reduced bone mass, hypertension, heart disease and insulin resistance in adulthood. So a team from Australia set out to investigate if low birth weight and premature birth also played a role in increased risk of joint replacement surgery as adults.
A total of 3,604 people who were 40 years of age or older at the time of joint replacement provided information about their weight at birth and if they were premature. Their records were then linked to data on knee and hip replacements due to osteoarthritis.
Of the participants, 116 had knee replacement surgery due to osteoarthritis and 75 had hip replacement. Low birth weight and preterm birth were linked to increase incidence of hip replacement independent of age, sex, body mass index, education level, hypertension, diabetes, smoking and physical activity. However, researchers found no significant association between low birth weight or preterm birth and knee replacement surgery.
“Currently there are no disease-modifying medications available to treat osteoarthritis, which makes understanding the risk factors associated with osteoarthritis so important for improving prevention of this disabling disease,” explains lead investigator, Prof Flavia Cicuttini.
“Our findings suggest that individuals born prematurely or with low birth weight are more likely to need hip replacement surgery for osteoarthritis in adulthood. While further investigation is needed to confirm these findings, identifying those at greatest risk for hip osteoarthritis and providing early interventions may help reduce the incidence of this debilitating disease.”

Image credit: Jens Bergander

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