Does subclinical inflammation contribute to impairment of function of knee joints in aged individuals? High prevalence of ultrasound inflammatory findings.

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of knee US findings of inflammation and structural damage in aged individuals (≥60 years) of a long-term population-based cohort and to correlate these findings with demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters.

Methods: Cross-sectional clinical and US investigation of both knee joints during the 2010 follow-up of the prospective population-based Bruneck Study. Demographic variables, physical activity, comorbidities, medications, pain, and functional scales related to the knee joints were recorded.

Signature of circulating microRNAs in osteoarthritis.

Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and a major socioeconomic burden. Our study is the first to explore the association between serum microRNA levels and the development of severe osteoarthritis of the knee and hip joint in the general population.

Methods: We followed 816 Caucasian individuals from 1995 to 2010 and assessed joint arthroplasty as a definitive outcome of severe osteoarthritis of the knee and hip.

Diabetes is an independent predictor for severe osteoarthritis: results from a longitudinal cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate if type 2 diabetes is an independent risk predictor for severe osteoarthritis (OA).

Research Design And Methods: Population-based cohort study with an age- and sex-stratified random sample of 927 men and women aged 40-80 years and followed over 20 years (1990-2010).

Results: Rates of arthroplasty (95% CI) were 17.

Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 as a predictor of severe osteoarthritis of the hip and knee joints.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of pain and physical disability in middle-aged and older individuals. We undertook this study to determine predictors of the development of severe OA, apart from age and overweight.

Methods: Joint replacement surgery due to severe hip or knee OA was recorded over a 15-year period in the prospective Bruneck cohort study.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein and risk of nontraumatic fractures in the Bruneck study.

Background: Chronic inflammatory diseases are associated with bone loss and an enhanced fracture risk. It is unknown, however, whether low-grade inflammation in healthy individuals, as estimated by the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level, interferes with bone metabolism and affects the risk of nontraumatic fractures.

Methods: Lifetime bone fractures were carefully recorded in the cohort of the population-based Bruneck Study (n = 919) along with information on the date of occurrence and associated circumstances.