LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Hip pain increases all-cause mortality in people with OA by a third, according to data obtained from a large, community-based study.
The hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was 1.33 (95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.51) in people who self-reported hip pain over the course of up to 25 years’ follow-up. The presence of hip pain also increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality (HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.99-1.50).
“The finding that hip pain more than radiographic hip OA is associated with mortality warrants further investigation,” said study investigator Rebecca J. Cleveland, PhD, at the World Congress on Osteoarthritis.The hazard ratios for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with radiographic hip pain were 1.04 (95% CI, 0.91-1.17) and 1.01(95% CI, 0.82-1.24), and the all-cause and cardiovascular mortality hazard ratios in patients with both hip pain and radiographic OA were 1.01 (95% CI, 0.87-1.18) and 1.01 (95% CI, 0.80-1.28).
These data support hip pain as a predictor of mortality, observed Dr. Cleveland, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “While there have been a number of studies that have looked at osteoarthritis as a risk factor for mortality, a lot of these studies have looked at arthritis in general or have looked at specifically knee osteoarthritis.
“There have been only a handful of studies that have looked at hip osteoarthritis as a risk factor for mortality,” she added, and considered all together, the results have been equivocal.
The aim of the current study she presented at the congress sponsored by the Osteoarthritis Research Society International was to explore whether or not hip OA was associated with all-cause and cardiovascular disease–specific mortality, independent of any comorbidities. The comorbidities considered were cancer, liver disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease.