Background/Purpose:

Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common sites of OA and predominantly affects women. Patients with knee, hip or spine OA exhibit increased cartilage type II collagen degradation as detected by the urinary excretion of C-terminal crosslinking telopeptide of type II collagen (CTX-II), but data on hand OA is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between urinary CTX-II and hand OA in women.

Methods: We investigated 590 women from the OFELY population-based study (mean age: 61.8 years ± 10.2), including 475 postmenopausal women. Clinical hand OA was defined according to the ACR criteria (Altman et al, 1990), slightly modified (without functional complains). At the same time of hand OA evaluation, knee and spine OA were assessed by radiographs and self-reported hip OA was recorded. Levels of urinary CTX-II measured by ELISA (Urine CartiLaps®, IDS) in the 186 women with hand OA (mean age: 67.2 years ± 8.4) were compared to those of the 404 other women without hand OA (mean age: 59.4 years ± 10.1). All analyses were adjusted for age and concomitant knee, hip or spine OA.

Results: Urinary CTX-II levels were significantly increased in women with hand OA (237 ±134 ng/mmolCr) compared to controls (165 ± 97 ng/mmolCr, p = 0.001) after adjustment for age and for prevalent knee, spine and hip OA. When urinary CTX-II concentrations were considered in quartiles, subjects with levels in the highest quartile had an increased risk of prevalent hand OA, with an odds-ratio of 2.06 (95% CI: 1.3-3.2; p = 0.002), after adjustment for OA at the other anatomical sites.

Conclusion:

Hand OA is characterized by increased type II collagen degradation. Urinary CTX-II could be a useful biomarker for the clinical investigation of hand OA.

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« Back to 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/hand-osteoarthritis-is-associated-with-increased-type-ii-collagen-degradation-in-women-the-ofely-study/