Arthritis research & therapyFeb 10, 2025

Asthma, feeling lonely or isolated, and the risk of developing osteoarthritis

Updated Mar 20, 2026

Abstract

With a median follow-up of 12.5 years, 57,573 new cases of were recorded in a cohort of 448,920 participants.

Participants with asthma had a 32% higher risk of developing osteoarthritis compared to those without asthma.
The increased risk associated with asthma was observed for all types of osteoarthritis, including knee (21% higher), hip (12% higher), and hand (62% higher).
Social isolation and loneliness significantly influenced the relationship between asthma and the risk of osteoarthritis.
Asthma was identified as a stronger predictor of osteoarthritis than other lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and diet.

Simplified

BACKGROUND: Incidence of (OA) was increased in patients with asthma, while no prospective cohort study has tested the association of asthma with OA, and the modified effect of social isolation and loneliness remains unclear.

METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 448,920 participants without OA at baseline from UK Biobank cohort. The evaluation of asthma was based on diagnosis and self-reported history. The outcome was OA including knee OA, hip OA and hand OA by referring to hospital admission records. Two Cox regression models were constructed to assess the relationship of asthma and risk of OA.

RESULTS: With a median of 12.5 years of follow up, a total of 57,573 incident OA were recorded. Compared with participants without asthma, the hazard ratios (HRs) were 1.32 (95% CI: 1.29-1.35) for all OA, 1.21 (95% CI: 1.16-1.25) for knee OA, 1.12 (95% CI: 1.07-1.18) for hip OA and 1.62 (95% CI:1.42-1.85) for hand OA in participants with asthma. In addition, we found that social isolation and loneliness significantly modified the associations of asthma with OA (P-interaction < 0.001). Asthma was a stronger predictor of OA than lifestyle risk factors including smoking, alcohol and healthy diet.

CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort study of UK Biobank participants, asthma was related to increased risk of OA; such association was more pronounced among those with higher social isolation or loneliness score.

Key numbers

1.32

Increase in Risk

for all in asthma vs. non-asthma participants.

1.62

Hand Risk Increase

for hand in asthma vs. non-asthma participants.

57,573

Participants with

Total incident cases during the follow-up period.

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Abstract

Key numbers

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