Vascular Pathology And Osteoarthritis Population-based studies

__Abstract__ \n \nOsteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent joint disorder worldwide and causes a considerable \nburden of pain, disability, and ever increasing costs to society. Due to rapid ageing \nand the epidemic of obesity in western populations, prevalence of OA is expected to \nincrease even more, by approximately 20% in the next 10 years. This will make OA the \nfourth leading cause of disability. \nOA can occur in every synovial joint, but is most common in the hips, knees, hands, \nfeet and spine. Histologically, it is characterized by loss of cartilage structure, subchondral \nbone sclerosis, synovial inflammation and osteophyte formation, with affection of \nthe whole joint (i.e. joint failure). \nOA is considered to be a multifactorial disease and its aetiology involves biomechanical, \ngenetic, inflammatory and hormonal factors. Over the last decades, interactions \nbetween these risk factors have been identified in epidemiological and experimental \nstudies, adding to our understanding of the complexity of this chronic progressive \ndisorder. For instance, the effect of obesity on knee osteoarthritis is amplified if hypertension \nis present, which might reflect an accumulative effect of cardiovascular risk \nfactors. Furthermore, malalignment of the knee seems to be a risk factor for knee OA \nonly among obese individuals. In addition to the interaction between risk factors, \ndifferent risk factors are related to OA in different joints.