McAlindon, Timothy E.Roberts, Mary B.Driban, Jeffrey B.Schaefer, Lena F.Haugen, Ida KristinSmith, Stacy E.Duryea, JeffreyCunha, D.Blanco García, Francisco JFernández, José LuisEaton, Charles B.2024-10-212024-10-212018-08-30McAlindon T, Roberts M, Driban J, Schaefer L, Haugen IK, Smith SE, Duryea J, Cunha D, Blanco F, Fernández-Garcia JL, Eaton C. Incident hand OA is strongly associated with reduced peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2018 Dec;26(12):1651-1657.1063-4584http://hdl.handle.net/2183/39689[Abstract] Objective: To evaluate the relationship of telomere length to the prevalence and incidence of hand osteoarthritis in a longitudinal cohort. Design: We conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of data from a subset of participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) recruited between February 2004 and May 2006. 274 individuals were eligible for the study based on availability of both baseline and 48-month hand radiographs and peripheral blood leucocyte telomere length data. Mean telomere length of peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL)s from the DNA samples was determined using a validated quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay, and hand radiographs were analyzed and graded using the Kellgren-Lawrence scale. Results: In joint -level analyses, prevalent Interphalangeal Joint Osteoarthritis (IPJOA) was significantly associated with PBL telomere length in the baseline sample in unadjusted analyses (RR = 2.84; 95% CI:0.87-9.29) or in models adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index (aRR = 1.10; 95% CI: 0.96-1.27). The association in crude and adjusted analyses appeared slightly stronger with incident IPJOA, especially in the subset with normal hands at baseline (aRR = 1.62; 95% CI: 1.02-2.57). PBL telomere length was also associated with prevalent HOA at baseline (significant in unadjusted analysis: RR = 1.22; 95% CI 1.06-1.42), but not after adjusting for covariates: aRR = 1.12; 95% CI: 0.96-1.30). The magnitude of association was stronger for incident HOA, especially incident symptomatic HOA (aRR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.09-2.15). Conclusions: In summary, the results of this exploratory analysis are confirmatory of previous work showing a cross-sectional relationship between telomere length and HOA and add to the field by demonstrating an even stronger association with incident IPJOA, both radiographic and symptomatic.engCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/EpidemiologyHandOsteoarthritisTelomerejournal articleopen access10.1016/j.joca.2018.08.010