Lund University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Orthopaedics, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Lund, Remissgatan 4, 222 42, Lund, Sweden.
Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Cluster for Health Services Research, Sandakerveien 24C, 0473, Oslo, Norway.
Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 6;15(1):9569. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53812-2.
Osteoarthritis is one of the most common musculoskeletal diseases and increases the risk of severe cardiovascular disease, like heart attack and stroke. In some individuals, osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease will co-occur. This co-occurrence might be due to shared risk factors, for example high age, lifestyle factors and/or a shared genetic liability for the two diseases. Here, we show that the correlation between osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease can be explained by shared genetic factors, independent of high age and body weight, and also likely independent of lifestyle factors, like smoking and physical activity level. Findings suggest that genetic factors that are shared for osteoarthritis and cardiovascular disease may contribute to both diseases. Thus, the prevailing idea that osteoarthritis is predominantly a risk factor for cardiovascular disease is challenged. Our findings imply that the current diagnostic boundaries between these diseases may need to be re-evaluated.
骨关节炎是最常见的肌肉骨骼疾病之一，会增加心脏病发作和中风等严重心血管疾病的风险。在某些人中，骨关节炎和心血管疾病会同时发生。这种同时发生可能是由于共同的风险因素，例如年龄高、生活方式因素和/或两种疾病的共同遗传易感性。在这里，我们表明，骨关节炎和心血管疾病之间的相关性可以用共同的遗传因素来解释，而与年龄高和体重无关，也可能与生活方式因素（如吸烟和身体活动水平）无关。研究结果表明，骨关节炎和心血管疾病共有的遗传因素可能会导致这两种疾病。因此，目前认为骨关节炎主要是心血管疾病的风险因素的观点受到了挑战。我们的研究结果表明，目前这些疾病之间的诊断界限可能需要重新评估。
