Study: Hip Osteoarthritis Far Lower Among Chinese Than White Americans

Elderly Chinese living in Beijing have a very low incidence of hip osteoarthritis compared with whites living in the United States, according to U.S. and Chinese researchers.

X-rays taken of the pelvis of 1,506 people age 60 and over living in Beijing were intermingled with hip x-rays of white men and women, ages 60 and olde, living in the United States, and then interpreted for signs of osteoarthritis.

According to the report in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, the researchers found that "hip osteoarthritis was 80 to 90 percent less frequent [in the Chinese subjects] than in white persons in the U.S."

Investigators are hopeful that identification of the genetic and environmental factors that underlie these differences may help them better understand and prevent the disease.

Other sources: Arthritis and Rheumatism