Is abnormal glucose tolerance or diabetes a risk factor for knee, hip, or hand osteoarthritis? A systematic review.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes (DM) and osteoarthritis (OA) are two common co-existing chronic conditions. However, whether this is due to shared risk factors or may differ between joints is unclear. We performed a systematic review to determine whether abnormal glucose metabolism is a risk factor for knee, hip and hand OA, separately, independent of age and obesity. METHODS: A systematic search of Ovid Medline and EMBASE was performed from inception until October 2016 to identify studies relating glucose metabolism to osteoarthritis-related outcomes. Studies were included if they related DM and OA and the knee, hip, or hand were examined separately. In the structured synthesis, objective measures of D..