Knee Osteoarthritis May Increase Likelihood of Hypertension

Having knee osteoarthritis may increase the likelihood of developing hypertension, according to findings presented at the World Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, and Musculoskeletal Diseases, March 23-26, 2017, in Florence, Italy.

An international team of researchers from Italy, Belgium, and the United Kingdom collected data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a multicenter, longitudinal, observational study.

Incident hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure >140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure >90 mm Hg. Radiologic and clinical assessment were used to identify knee osteoarthritis.

Of the 3558 patients with normal blood pressure at baseline, 1930 had knee osteoarthritis and 1628 did not. There was a significantly higher incidence of hypertension in patients with knee osteoarthritis compared with patients without osteoarthritis (60 vs 55 per 1000 person years; P <.0001).

After adjustment for confounders, patients with knee osteoarthritis had a 13% higher chance of developing hypertension (hazard ratio [HR] 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26; P =.03).

“Our data suggest that blood pressure should be monitored in this population and prevent[ive]ing interventions [be] provided to mitigate the potential adverse consequences of hypertension,” the researchers wrote.

Reference

Vernonese N, Stubbs B, Smith T, Reginster J-Y, Maggi S. The relationship between knee osteoarthritis and incident hypertension: a representative longitudinal study. P222. Presented at: World Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases. March 23-26, 2017; Florence, Italy.