‘A call to action’: Assessing OA risk factors critical as cases to reach 1 billion by 2050
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
SAN DIEGO — The ability to recognize common osteoarthritis risk factors will become increasingly critical in the coming decades, as recent data project the global prevalence of the disease will reach 1 billion by 2050, noted a speaker here.
“The prevalence and incidence of osteoarthritis is really astounding,” Kenneth C. Kalunian, MD, of the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, told attendees at the 2023 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology West. “The global prevalence is about 500 million people. But it has been projected, recently, that this will reach 1 billion by 2050.
“It is really a call to action,” he added.
According to Kalunian, the current lack of therapies that can impact OA disease activity underscores the importance of recognizing common OA risk factors, including obesity, female sex, aging and injuries.
“Obesity leads to a higher incidence of hip and knee OA, probably because of loading,” he said.
The increased weight of patients who are obese means there is a likelihood that the knee joints will be regularly placed under increased stress, according to Kalunian. However, patients who are obese also demonstrate increased rates of hand OA, he added.
“Obese patients also have a higher incidence of OA in the hands that do not usually bear weight, which leads to the general belief that it is the systemic factors released by other tissues that induce OA in obese patients,” Kalunian said.
Following obesity, Kalunian noted that female sex and aging are also common risk factors.
“Gender is a huge risk factor, as we have found out,” Kalunian said. “Women are more susceptible to OA onset compared with men. The contributing factors for this gender difference in OA are not fully understood and need further attention in the OA research community.”
Regarding aging, Kalunian argued that it is reasonable to suggest that the development of OA and the aging process are associated in some way.
“Although aging and the development of osteoarthritis could be totally independent processes, they are probably closely associated,” he said.
Finally, Kalunian stressed the importance of injuries regarding OA development.
“Trauma in the joints has been demonstrated to induce gene expression alterations in different knees,” he said. “Besides injury, sports-related excessive joint loading also increases the chance of OA development.”
Collapse
Kalunian KC. What is new in osteoarthritis? Presented at The Congress of Clinical Rheumatology West; Sept. 7-10, 2023 (hybrid meeting).
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts