Background/Purpose: Previous studies have found that obesity is a risk factor for hand osteoarthritis (OA), but most have been cross-sectional studies and thus causality is uncertain. Longitudinal studies are instead needed to explore the association between obesity-related characteristics, including fat deposition/distribution and hand OA. The present study examined the association between changes in body composition measurements and the radiographic progression of hand OA in a longitudinal cohort.

Methods: In the Dong-gu Study population, 1,277 patients had hand radiographs at baseline and at the 4-year follow-up. X-rays of the hand joints were scored using a semi-quantitative grading method. Body composition was simultaneously measured in a bioelectrical impedance analysis using an InBody 520 analyzer. The relationship between changes in body composition measurements and the radiographic progression of hand OA was assessed in a multiple linear regression analysis.

Results: Total hand joint scores increased from 16.3 ± 5.74 at baseline to 18.8 ± 8.11 at year 4 (P < 0.001). Changes of body mass index, hip circumference (HC), waist-to-hip circumference (WHC), and fat mass were significantly associated with changes in the total hand joint scores (P = 0.012, P < 0.001, P = 0.017, P = 0.008, respectively). HC and WHC were significantly associated with radiographic progression of the hand joints, after adjusting for age, sex, physical activity, education status, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, chronic pulmonary disease, chronic liver disease, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and malignancy (P < 0.001, P = 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion: Changes in fat distribution were significantly associated with the radiographic progression of hand OA over 4 years, suggesting a role for the systemic effect of adipose tissue.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/associations-between-body-composition-measurements-of-obesity-and-the-radiographic-progression-of-hand-osteoarthritis-data-from-the-dong-gu-study/