according to a review of 575 participants in a substudy of the Osteoarthritis Initiative cohort.
After assessing Heberden’s nodes (HNs) – bony enlargements of the last finger joint – and knee MRI findings at baseline and 24 months, the investigators found that HNs were associated with periarticular bone area expansion in the knee. The investigators reported their findings in Arthritis & Rheumatology.
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Comparing the 395 subjects with HNs with the 180 without, there was more periarticular bone area expansion among HN patients at 2 years in the knee joint (adjusted odds ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.83), especially in the medial femur (aOR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.05-2.13), lateral femur (aOR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.58-3.97), femoral notch (aOR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.02-1.84), and lateral trochlea (aOR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.08-1.9). The comparisons were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and bone remodeling agent use.
“The presence of Heberden’s nodes in a physical examination is associated with a distinct pattern of worsening of osteoarthritis-related structural damage in the knee joint,” lead investigator Arya Haj-Mirzaian, MD, a radiologist and postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, said in a press release.
However, HNs were also associated with less worsening of knee osteophytes, especially at the femoral end of the knee joint (aOR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.31-0.95); the finding seemed to contradict the overall picture of worsening knee osteoarthritis with HNs.
“Although osteophytes are thought to be a late secondary sequel or compensatory repair mechanism in OA and indicator of advanced knee OA, less worsening in osteophytes’ score ... may propose that less ossification is involved in the pathophysiology of knee OA in the presence of HNs,” the investigators wrote. It’s a subject for future research.
Patients with HNs were older, more often female, and had a lower frequency for other knee OA risk factors, such as excessive body mass index and knee injury. Patients with gout were excluded.
There was no external funding, and the investigators reported no disclosures.
SOURCE: Haj-Mirzaian A et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019 Jan 9. doi: 10.1002/art.40811.