The cross-sectional and longitudinal effect of hyperlipidemia on knee osteoarthritis: Results from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort in China

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a degenerative arthritis that results from the breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone¹. The results of the Global Burden of Disease Study showed that osteoarthritis cased 12.8 million of YLDs (years lived with disability) and 10.4 million of DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) worldwide in 2013^2,3; moreover, KOA is believed to be the leading cause of lower-limb disability in older adults and one of the largest socioeconomic burdensworldwide^4,5.

As one of the most common joint diseases worldwide, KOA’s prevalence varies across countries and regions. The global prevalence of KOA was estimated at 3.8% in 2010⁶, and the prevalence ranged from 7.5% to 25.2% in Asia after the year of 2000^7–9. In China the prevalence of symptomatic KOA was 8.1% in 2012¹⁰. Such variation in the prevalence of KOA may be due to differences in heredity, anatomy, and case definition.

Although the prevalence of KOA is high, the risk factors remain unclear. Previous research indicates that aging, obesity, and occupational activities are risk factors^11–14. With aging and obesity, alterations in systemic metabolism become important risk factors for imbalances in bone and cartilage metabolism, believed to be a key factor in the development and progression of KOA. Other factors such as lipid disorders, which may interfere with joint metabolism, have also garnered considerable attention. A few studies have found associations between elevated blood lipids and disturbed differentiation or metabolism of chondrocyte^15–17. The prevalence of hyperlipidemia have increased dramatically in China¹⁸, however, the potential effects of hyperlipidemia on KOA have not been adequately evaluated among Chinese. In addition, lipid-lowering drugs which were commonly used by some hyperlipidemias were also reported to have certain impact on the risk of KOA, but the results were inconsistent^19,20. Potential effects of lipid-lowering drugs on KOA need further evaluation.

The Dongfeng-Tongji cohort was established in 2008²¹ and was first followed up in 2013. We developed the present study using data concerning knee health and serum lipids at baseline and follow-up. This large sample of middle-aged or older Chinese subjects was used to investigate whether elevated serum lipid levels and the use of lipid-lowering drugs are linked to KOA.

A total of 13,906 individuals (6,346 males) identified at baseline were included in the cross-sectional analyses. No differences in age, WHR (waist-to-hip ratio), or lifestyle were detected between the included participants and remaining members of the cohort.

The basic characteristics of the included participants were presented in Table 1. The prevalence of knee pain and clinical KOA was 39.0% (N = 5,420) and 6.7% (N = 927), respectively. The age of retirement in China for male and female was 55 and 50 years old, respectively. In the present study, the mean age was 64.7 years, with 365 (4.8%) women younger than 50 years (mean age 47.4 ± 2.0 years) and 146 (2.3%) men younger than 55 years (mean age 49.5 ± 4.1 years), and the reasons likely include serious illness, work injuries and family reason. Participants with knee pain tended to be less physically active than those without such pain. The percentage of current smokers appeared to be lower among the knee pain and clinical KOA cases (12.0% and 8.4%, respectively) than among their unaffected colleagues (17.9% and 16.1%, respectively). The correlation of lipid levels between baseline and follow-up among participants not using lipid-lowering drugs (N = 6,409) were shown in Table 2, and the correlation coefficients were 0.61, 0.63, 0.62, and 0.70 for triglyceride, TC (total cholesterol), LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and HDL-C (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), respectively.

Risk factors for knee pain and clinical KOA identified in this study were advanced age, elevated WHR, physical workload, and hyperlipidemia (Table 3). The adjusted ORs (odds ratios) of knee pain and clinical KOA among hyperlipidemia cases were 1.34(1.23–1.45) and 1.34(1.15–1.55), respectively. Additionally, a family history of hyperlipidemia was a risk factor for knee pain (1.26, 1.09–1.45) and clinical KOA (1.45, 1.12–1.87).

The results of stratified analyses by lipid-lowering drugs were shown in Table 3. Compared with participants without hyperlipidemia or use of lipid-lowering drugs, those with hyperlipidemia but no use of lipid-lowering drugs had higher risks of knee pain (1.28, 1.15–1.43) and clinical KOA (1.20, 0.97–1.48), and those with hyperlipidemia and use of lipid-lowering drug had the highest risks of knee pain (1.40, 1.26–1.56) and clinical KOA (1.45, 1.21–1.75). Notably, the ORs of knee pain (1.04, 0.80–1.26) and clinical KOA (0.99, 0.69–1.43) were not significantly elevated among the participants without hyperlipidemia but using lipid-lowering drugs for prevention of other diseases.

In stratified analyses by WHR, risk of knee pain was significantly elevated among hyperlipidemia cases with or without use of lipid-lowering drugs in all WHR-groups (Table 4). The significantly elevated risk of clinical KOA was observed mainly in the high-WHR groups.

The associations between specific blood lipids and either knee pain or clinical KOA were shown in Table 5. Compared with subjects with normal lipids and no use of lipid-lowering drugs, ORs of knee pain (1.36–1.43) and clinical KOA (1.49–1.57) were significantly higher in all groups containing subjects with hyperlipidemia and use of lipid-lowering drugs. Each 1-unit increase in triglyceride was associated with 5% and 9% increases in the risks of knee pain and clinical KOA, respectively. Additionally, each 1-unit increase in TC and LDL-C was associated with 8% and 6% increases in the risk of knee pain, respectively.

The association between hyperlipidemia and clinical KOA was further investigated longitudinally. During 4.91 (standard deviation 0.49) years of follow-up, 361 clinical KOA patients were newly diagnosed. Compared with participants without hyperlipidemia or use of lipid-lowering drugs, the covariates-adjusted HR (hazard ratio) of clinical KOA was significant for all hyperlipidemia cases. Risk of clinical KOA was highest among participants with hyperlipidemia and use of lipid-lowering drugs (HR 1.40, 1.02–1.90). As shown in Table 6, each 1-unit increase in triglyceride was associated with a 5% increase in the risk of developing clinical KOA. Compared to individuals with normal triglyceride and no use of lipid-lowering drugs, the HR for clinical KOA was 1.58(1.20–2.09) among those with hyperlipidemia and taking lipid-lowering drugs. The HR for clinical KOA among those without hyperlipidemia but taking lipid-lowering drugs for prevention of other diseases was elevated without significance (HR 1.34, 0.63–2.86).

In the present study, we identified a positive association between hyperlipidemia and elevated risks of knee pain and clinical KOA in middle-aged or older adults. Based on cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, a positive dose-response relationship was identified between triglyceride and clinical KOA. Moreover, our results indicate that the influence of lipid-lowering drugs on knee pain and clinical KOA is limited.

These findings have notable implications for public health, because the relatively high prevalence of KOA seriously affects quality of life for older adults, and hyperlipidemia may be prevented through diet and physical exercise. Only a few studies have investigated the relationship between hyperlipidemia and osteoarthritis. Dahaghin and colleagues reported no significant association between serum lipids and OA of the hand²². However, the Ulm Osteoarthritis Study involving 809 patients with knee or hip joint replacements due to OA indicated that hypercholesterolemia and high serum cholesterol were risk factors for OA²³. Their results conflicted and the assessment of the effects of hyperlipidemia on KOA in larger populations is necessary. In our cross-sectional analyses of 13,906 participants, risks of knee pain and clinical KOA were significantly higher among hyperlipidemia cases. Similar results were obtained when the analyses were stratified by WHR. In the longitudinal analysis, risk of clinical KOA was higher among participants with hyperlipidemia. Further results were that serum triglyceride linked to KOA risk more closely than serum cholesterols did. Each 1-unit increase in serum triglyceride was associated with a 9% increase in the risk of clinical KOA prevalence and a 5% increase in the risk of clinical KOA onset.

Lipid-lowering drugs have been reported to play a role in the development of KOA, though that role remains unclear. Clockaerts and colleagues demonstrated that lipid-lowering drugs were associated with slower KOA progression²⁰. However, Riddle and colleagues failed to demonstrate any positive association between lipid-lowering drugs and decreased KOA risk¹⁹. In the present study, we did not observe an increased risk of knee pain or clinical KOA among the group of participants without hyperlipidemia but taking lipid-lowering drugs for prevention of other diseases, although the number of subjects in this group (N = 511) was relatively small. Conversely, among participants with hyperlipidemia, risks for knee pain and clinical KOA were higher among those taking lipid-lowering drugs than among those not taking such drugs. Possible explanations for this finding may be that the participants with hyperlipidemia and use of lipid-lowering drugs had higher serum lipids before pharmacotherapy and longer course of hyperlipidemia. Our results suggest that hyperlipidemia may be an independent risk factor for KOA, and that the effect of lipid-lowering drugs on this association is limited.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate hyperlipidemia as a risk factor for KOA in a large population. Though the reasons underlying this increased risk are not sufficiently clear, several factors may contribute to this association, the first of which may be central obesity. In the WHR-stratified analyses, hyperlipidemia was positively associated with elevated risks of knee pain and clinical KOA in the higher-WHR groups, while the association was weaker in the lower-WHR group. Moreover, elevated serum triglyceride, which is one index of the metabolic disorders following central obesity²⁴, was strongly associated with elevated KOA risk. Second, hyperlipidemia is a sign of disorders of lipid metabolism, which could disturb the balance between lipid and bone or cartilage metabolism. Adipocytes share a mesenchymal stem cell precursor with osteoblasts and chondrocytes (i.e. musculoskeletal cells)²⁵. Elevated lipids level up-regulate proliferation of adipocytes, which could competitively inhabit proliferation and differentiation of musculoskeletal cells. This phenomenon has been observed by published experiments. Diascro and colleagues found that fatty acids can initiate the switch from osteoblasts to adipocyte-like cells in vitro²⁶. Aspden and colleagues reported that elevated lipids level might implicate the formation of musculoskeletal cells from their stromal precursors²⁷. Third, inflammatory factors might partially explain the association. With hyperlipidemia, fatty acids and cholesterol crystals increase, possibly activating the Nalp3-inflammasome and leading to increased release of IL-1β, one of the critical pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in the development and progression of KOA^28–30. Fourth, subchondral ischemia might be another reason involved. Lipids deposit in cartilage and reduce blood flow, and then leads to ischemia and ultimately bone dystrophy^31,32.

The strengths of our study include the large sample size, detailed information regarding demographics, lifestyle, medical history, and occupational history for each participant, and examinations of the knee joint and measurement of blood lipids. However, this study also has several limitations. First, we did not provide knee X-ray examination for the participants although all participants could take knee X-ray examination at any time if they have knee discomfort and the company will pay for such examination. And we could not rule out the obese participant or those with hyperlipidemia would more likely to take medical consultation. Second, we were unable to collect information regarding the types and doses of lipid-lowering drugs. Nevertheless, previous studies have reported that commonly used lipid-lowering drugs showed similar effects on KOA^33–35. Third, we did not collect information regarding dietary patterns and were unable to evaluate the possible confounding influence of this factor. However, considering that all participants were retired from the same large company in the same city, their dietary patterns were likely to be relatively homogenous. Forth, although information regarding physical activity was collected over the past five years, the individuals may have changed their physical activity levels over time. Fifth, we did not evaluate the effect of osteoporosis or serum calcium level on KOA.

In conclusion, our results indicate that hyperlipidemia may be an independent risk factor for knee pain and clinical KOA among middle-aged or older adults. These findings have substantial implications for the prevention of KOA through the reduction of blood lipid levels.

The authors are indebted to Dr. Frank B. Hu at the Harvard School of Public Health, and to Dr. Donald Halstead at the Harvard School of Public Health for providing valuable comments. We also thank the study participants for their help. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81573121]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Huazhong University of Science and Technology [grant number 2016JCTD116].

All authors were involved in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and all authors approved the final version to be published. Dr. Chen had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study conception and design: M. Zhou, and W. Chen. Acquisition of data: M. Zhou, Y. Guo, J. Yuan, M. He, X. Zhang, H. Guo, T. Wu, and W. Chen. Analysis and interpretation of data: M. Zhou, Y. Guo, D. Wang, D. Shi, W. Li, Y. Liu, J. Yuan, M. He, X. Zhang, H. Guo, T. Wu, and W. Chen.