SMOKING AND OSTEOARTHRITIS: IS THERE AN ASSOCIATION? • There is no association between smoking and knee OA, hand OA, foot OA, or cervical spine OA . Smoking doesn’t lead to OA. Smoking doesn’t protect you from it. OBJECTIVE: To look at the relationship between cigarette smoking and the subsequent development of osteoarthritis at four separate sites: knee, hand, foot and cervical spine. METHODS: This study examined 2,501 men and women aged 40 years and older participating in the longitudinal Clearwater Osteoarthritis Study (1988-current). Physical exams, including serial radiographs, as well as historical information, were collected every two years. A scale from 0 –4 was used to grade the participants’ x-rays to see if they had osteoarthritis. Self-reported history of smoking behavior was used to determine the study exposure. Smoking was classified using four approaches: RESULTS: Among the individuals at study entry, newly confirmed cases of OA were found during the study period at four sites: knee (32%), hand (49%), foot (28%), and cervical spine (51%). Approximately 11% were self-reported current smokers. Overall, the findings were suggestive of no association between smoking and the development of osteoarthritis. Smoking appears to give a modest level of protection against severe hand OA among women only. After considering the influences of age, body mass index, and heredity, women who smoked were 51% less likely to have developed severe hand OA than their male counterparts (risk ratio = 0.49; CI 0.25-0.96). CONCLUSION: Smoking does not appear, overall, to convey a clinically significant level of protection against osteoarthritis. In no manner are we supporting smoking behavior as advantageous to one’s health. Nonetheless, findings differed between men and women suggesting that further research into the role that hormones may play is warranted. In 1988, The Arthritis Research Institute of America located in Clearwater, Florida, initiated The Clearwater Osteoarthritis Study [COS]. The COS is an on-going population-based prospective cohort study designed to identify the major risk factors for the development of osteoarthritis (OA), differentiate risk factors for localized and generalized primary OA, as well as to identify risk factors for the progression of OA. Currently in its fourteenth year, the twenty-five year longitudinal study follows individuals forty years of age and older, collecting demographic, historical, clinical, and radiological data. To date, more than 3500 enrollees have been recruited and examined. We give our special thanks and sincere appreciation to all of our volunteers. This study would not be possible without them.
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Osteoarthritis (OA) Bring Out the Flip-Flops and Sneakers, Better for Osteoarthritis Hope For Those With Osteoarthritis Knee Pain |
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