Hand osteoarthritis increases risk of cardiometabolic disease due to shared chronic inflammation pathways, researchers suggest

Hand osteoarthritis and cardiometabolic disease may have shared physical and/or chemical processes, which could be based on chronic inflammation, says research presented at the World Congress on Osteoarthritis.
In a study of 869 people with hand osteoarthritis, those with ischaemic cardiac disease were more than three times as likely to have joint symptoms and had greater clinical progression. And obese people had more extensive radiographic disease in their hands.
The results add to previous findings that there are higher rates of ischaemic cardiac events in people with hand osteoarthritis.
“One hypothesis is that symptomatic hand osteoarthritis and cardiometabolic disease share a common background based on chronic low-grade inflammation,” says Dr Alice Courties, who is involved in the work.
Dr Nigel Arden, also involved in the study, comments:
“I think the whole association of cardiovascular risk, metabolic syndrome, and osteoarthritis is very important, and very important in treating patients or intervention. And this [study] is an integral part of that work.”

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Image credit: John Genius