Session Information
Title: Osteoarthritis - Clinical Aspects I: Weight, Activity, and Metabolic Effects on Osteoarthritis
Session Type: Abstract Submissions (ACR)
Background/Purpose: To investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between serum leptin levels and knee cartilage thickness in older adults.
Methods: A prospective cohort of 163 randomly selected subjects (mean 63 years, range 52–78, 46% female) were studied. Knee cartilage thickness at medial tibial, lateral tibial, femoral and patellar sites was determined using T1-weighted fat suppressed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using custom semi-automated segmentation software written in MATLAB. Serum leptin levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Radiographic osteoarthritic changes including joint space narrowing and osteophytes were assessed according to Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) atlas. Fat mass and lean mass (kg) were measured using a Hologic dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanner. Weight and height were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated.
Results: Knee cartilage thickness was negatively and significantly associated with age, female sex and BMI in multivariable analyses. It was also associated with joint space narrowing at medial tibial, lateral tibial and patellar sites (β: -0.08 to -0.12 mm per grade, all P<0.05) and osteophytes.
Cross-sectionally, serum levels of leptin were negatively associated with femoral (β: -0.012 mm per pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.021, -0.003), medial tibial (β: -0.008 mm per pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.016, 0.001), lateral tibial (β: -0.010 mm per pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.019, -0.001) and patellar (β: -0.015 mm per pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.026, -0.003) cartilage thickness after adjustment for covariates including BMI and radiographic OA. Moreover, BMI, trunk fat and total fat were negatively associated with cartilage thickness at various sites, and the significant associations disappeared after further adjustment for leptin.
Longitudinally, both baseline leptin and change in leptin were associated with greater deleterious changes in medial tibial cartilage thickness (β; -0.004 mm per pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.007, -0.001 and β: -0.009 mm per pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.018, -0.001, respectively) in multivariable analyses.
Conclusion: This is the first study to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between serum levels of leptin and cartilage thickness in older adults. Serum levels of leptin are independently and consistently associated with reduced cartilage thickness cross-sectionally and over time. In addition, the associations between adiposity measures and cartilage thickness are mediated by leptin suggesting leptin may play a key role in cartilage loss.
Disclosure:
O. Stannus,
None;
Y. Cao,
None;
B. S. Eathakkattu Antony,
None;
G. Jones,
None;
C. Ding,
None.
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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/cross-sectional-and-longitudinal-associations-between-circulating-leptin-and-knee-cartilage-thickness-in-older-adults/