Mutual associations among musculoskeletal diseases and metabolic syndrome components: A 3-year follow-up of the ROAD study

Abstract

Objective. This study aimed to assess the mutual associations between musculoskeletal diseases (knee osteoarthritis [KOA], lumbar spondylosis [LS], osteoporosis [OP]) and metabolic syndrome components (obesity [OB], hypertension [HT], dyslipidemia [DL], impaired glucose tolerance [IGT]).

Methods. Of the 1,690 participants (596 men, 1,094 women) at baseline, 1,384 individuals (81.9%; 466 men, 918 women) had complete data at the first follow-up in 2008. Logistic regression analysis included the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the musculoskeletal diseases or metabolic components as the outcome variable and the remaining musculoskeletal diseases and metabolic components at baseline as explanatory variables, adjusted for age, sex, residential region, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

Results. The risk of KOA occurring increased significantly with HT (odds ratio [OR], 2.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22–5.42; p = 0.013) and IGT (OR, 1.99; 95%CI, 1.07–3.70; p = 0.029). The risk of OP occurring at the lumbar spine increased with OP at the femoral neck (OR, 4.21; 95%CI 1.46–12.1; p = 0.008), and vice versa (OR, 2.19; 95%CI, 1.01–479; p = 0.047). KOA increased the risk of HT (Kellgren–Lawrence [KL] grade = 0, 1 vs. KL = 2: OR, 1.84; 95%CI, 1.09–3.12; p = 0.024) and DL (KL = 0, 1 vs. KL ≥ 3: OR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.05–2.61; p = 0.029) occurring. Reciprocal relationships existed between the presence of metabolic components and the occurrence of the other metabolic components.

Conclusion. Mutual relationships existed between the occurrence and presence of musculoskeletal diseases, particularly KOA, and metabolic syndrome components.

Keywords:

• Incidence
• Knee osteoarthritis
• Lumbar spondylosis
• Metabolic risk factor
• Osteoporosis

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for H17-Men-eki-009 (Director, Kozo Nakamura), H20-Choujyu-009 (Director, Noriko Yoshimura), H23-Choujyu-002 (Director, Toru Akune), H-25-Choujyu-007 (Director, Noriko Yoshimura), and H25-Nanchitou(Men)-005 (Director, Sakae Tanaka) of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; and Scientific Research B23390172, B20390182, and Challenging Exploratory Research 24659317 to Noriko Yoshimura; B23390357 and C20591737 to Toru Akune; B23390356, C20591774, and Challenging Exploratory Research 23659580 to Shigeyuki Muraki; Challenging Exploratory Research 24659666 and 21659349 and Young Scientists A18689031 to Hiroyuki Oka; and Collaborating Research with NSF 08033011–00262 (Director, Noriko Yoshimura) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan. This study also was supported by grants from the Japan Osteoporosis Society (Noriko Yoshimura, Shigeyuki Muraki, Hiroyuki Oka, and Toru Akune), and research aid from the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA-Subsidized Science Project Research 2006–1 & 2010–2; Director, Hiroshi Kawaguchi).

The authors wish to thank Dr. Takako Nojiri and Mr. Kazuhiro Hatanaka of the Gobo Public Health Centre; Dr. Naoki Hirabayashi of the Kawakami Clinic in Hidakagawa Town; Mrs. Tomoko Takijiri, Mrs. Rie Takiguchi, Mrs. Kyoko Maeda, and other members of the public office in Hidakagawa Town; Dr. Shinji Matsuda of the Shingu Public Health Centre; and Mrs. Tamako Tsutsumi, Mrs. Kanami Maeda, Mrs. Megumi Takino, Mrs. Shuko Okada, Mrs. Kazuyo Setoh, Mrs. Chise Ryouno, Mrs. Miki Shimosaki, Mrs. Chika Yamaguchi, Mrs. Yuki Shimoji, and other members of the public office in Taiji Town for their assistance in locating and scheduling participants for examinations. We also thank Ms. Kyoko Yoshimura, Mrs. Toki Sakurai, Mrs. Saeko Sahara, and Mr. Noriyuki Oe for their assistance in data reduction and administration.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that (1) no author has received corporate support for the submitted work; (2) the authors have no relationships with companies that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; (3) the authors’ spouses, partners, or children do not have financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work; and (4) the authors have no non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.