Osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis that affects multiple joints, is becoming more common among African Americans, according to new research published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).
This study was conducted by part of the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project, Dr. Amanda Nelson from the University of North Carolina at the Chapel Hill-UNC Rheumatology/Thurston Arthritis Research Center and colleagues.
African Americans have a higher prevalence of multiple, large-joint osteoarthritis (OA), which may not be recognized based on the current definition of "generalized OA."
For the study radiographic data was analyzed for the hands, knee, hips and spine in African American and Caucasian men and women aged 45 years and older. Researchers obtained age, gender, race and body mass index (BMI) data by using questionnaires and clinical examination. The average age of the study participants was 65 years or older, with an average BMI classed as 'obese'. A third of the participants were male and two thirds were Caucasian.
According to the evaluation, African Americans are at greater risk to develop OA in the knew joint compared to Caucasians but are less likely to be affected by OA in the hand, Medical News Today reports.
After taking into account participants' age, gender and BMI, researchers discovered that compared with Caucasians, African Americans had substantially less frequent OA in the joints of the fingertip, or also in other joints of the hand. African Americans were also potentially at double the risk of having osteoarthritis in their knee compared with Caucasians and had a 77% greater probability of having OA in both their knee and spine. Both races showed similar frequencies of OA occurrence in joints of the hand.
In conclusion, 42% of the participants suffered from OA in the knee, whilst 36% suffered from osteoarthritis in the hip and 32% in the hand. The most common form of OA was detected in the spine in 62% of the participants.
"Racial differences in OA phenotypes were more significant than gender disparity,” Dr. Nelson said, according to Medical News Today. Our findings suggest a substantial health burden of large-joint OA, particularly hip and spine, among African Americans and further studies that address this concern are warranted."
Over 27 million adults aged 25 years and older, are suffering from OA, according to estimations of The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). By 2030, NIAMS projections show that 67 million people will be diagnosed with arthritis based on the fact that OA occurrence increases with population age.
