Study: Smoking Provides No Protection Against Osteoarthritis

Smoking does not protect people from getting osteoarthritis, according to a study reported in the January issue of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.

Researchers from the Arthritis Research Institute of America (ARIA) examined 2,505 men and women aged 40 years and older participating in the longitudinal Clearwater Osteoarthritis Study.

About 11 percent of the study participants reported that they smoked. Unadjusted analyses indicated that individuals classified as current smokers demonstrated significant levels of protection from osteoarthritis in the knee, hand, foot and cervical spine.

Despite this finding, study author Frances V. Wilder, ARIA director of research, told Medical Week that the unadjusted findings mean that the influence of other factors were not considered.

"However, the adjusted analyses noted mostly no relationship between osteoarthritis and smoking," she added. "Smokers should not find solace that perhaps their habit does have at least one health benefit."

Wilder said the findings are primarily for health researchers attempting to quantify relationships between osteoarthritis and other factors. "If the adjusted association between smoking and osteoarthritis had been significant, this would have cautioned future investigators of the need to obtain and consider smoking status data on their study subjects," she said.

Nevertheless, Wilder and her colleagues concluded that anecdotal evidence warrants investigation into the role that cigarette smoking may play in the symptomatology of osteoarthritis.

Other Sources: ARIA (www.preventarthritis.org) & Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (Vol. 11, 29-35)