Objectives: Despite recent advances regarding the role of diabetes with respect to cartilage metabolism, epidemiologic data to quantify the role of diabetes in the development of osteoarthritis (OA) are sparse.
Methods: OA patterns were studied in 809 patients with knee or hip joint replacement due to OA. NIDDM was defined by a history of physician diagnosed diabetes or use of antihyperglycemics.
Results: Patients with NIDDM had more often bilateral OA (adjusted odds ratio (OR)=2.2; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.8-6.4). No association between NIDDM and generalized OA (adjusted OR= 1.0; 95%CI: 0.5-1.9) was observed.
Conclusions: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that NIDDM might be a potentially important systemic risk factor for knee and hip OA, but chance cannot be ruled out as an alternative explanation.