Women tend to have osteoarthritis at much higher rates than men. According to Alexander Shikhman, MD, PhD, founder of the Institute for Specialized Medicine in Del Mar, CA., and medical director of Restorative Remedies, joints affected by osteoarthritis also vary by gender --- men are more prone to have arthritis in their hips and women tend to have it in the knees or hands.
There are several potential reasons:
1. Biology/anatomy Women’s bodies are designed to give birth and that means the tendons in their lower body are more elastic than men’s. The joints move around more with less stability and therefore more prone to injury. In addition, women’s hips are wider than their knees, their knees are not aligned as straight as men’s which leads to a higher rate of knee injuries, and injuries lead to osteoarthritis later in life.
2. Genetics Osteoarthritis seems to run in families and there appears to be a genetic link among women. Women whose mothers developed osteoarthritis tend to find that they will develop it in the same joints at around the same age as she did.
3. Hormones Researchers believe that female hormones have an effect on the cartilage that locates between the bones of the joints and cushions the bones to prevent pain and allow the joints to move smoothly. Experts in laboratory studies of cells that form cartilage have found that the female hormones estrogen protects cartilage from inflammation and lead to osteoarthritis. Women’s estrogen levels go down after menopause and they lose that protection.
4. Obesity Statistics show that more women than men are obese or severely obese. Extra weight put more pressure on joints and can cause the cartilage between joints wear away faster.
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Interesting. Do you know whether osteoporosis is a risk factor for osteoarthritis? It seems likely it would be-- weak bones wear down more readily?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if osteoporosis would be a risk factor for osteoarthritis. I think it's more likely that Osteoarthritis be a risk factor for Osteoporosis and not the other way around. Osteoporosis could result from a severe lack of movement due to osteoarthritis patient's attempt to avoid pain by spending long periods of time off their feet. Bone density would decrease slowly leading to an eventual diagnosis of osteporosis.
ReplyDeleteIt seems contradictory for osteoporosis to lead to osteoarthritis since obesity is a risk factor for Osteoarthritis. Obesity increases the mass of bone
and would protect from osteoporosis. The lower wieght would also lessen the amount of wear on the cartilage.
There is of course many more variables to consider, but for the most part I think they would be seperate conditions.
In a particular research article which studied the relationship between osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in the general population. It provided a conclusion --- in a population of middle-aged females, bone density is higher in those with osteoarthritis, therefore, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis is actually inversely related!! In addition, it is not very common for one to suffer from both diseases.
ReplyDeleteThere are more than one research articles that studied this relationship.
Here is one of the sources, full text of the article is available.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1005278/pdf/annrheumd00491-0006.pdf