Incidence of Osteoarthritis higher among patients of atopic dermatitis and asthma

According to them, future research on OA management should target allergic pathways.

In the present study, researchers determined OA incidence in atopic disease patients and compared it with matched non-exposed patients. They included adult patients without pre-existing OA or inflammatory arthritis who were exposed or non-exposed to atopic disease. The incident OA was the primary outcome measured.

The study results are:

• There were 117346 exposed patients and 1 247 196 non-exposed patients of mean age 52 years and 50 years, respectively.
• Following propensity score matching, OA incidence was higher in patients with asthma or atopic dermatitis than non-exposed patients, with an aOR of 1.58.
• The effect was more pronounced in those with asthma and atopic dermatitis than in non-exposed patients with aOR.
• The aOR was 1.83 in asthmatic patients compared with COPD patients.
• The results were replicated in an independent dataset called STARR, providing an added richness of body mass index data.
• In STARR, aOR of developing OA patients with asthma or atopic dermatitis versus non-exposed patients was 1.42.

Concluding further, the results of this study demonstrated that OA incidence is increased in patients with atopic disease.

Further reading:

Increased risk of Osteoarthritis in patients with atopic disease. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ard-2022-223640