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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Ajay Abraham, Professor Mark PearceORCiD, Dr Kay Mann, Emeritus Professor Roger Francis, Professor Fraser Birrell
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Background: Musculoskeletal ultrasound has been found to be more sensitive than radiographs in detecting osteophytes. Our objective was to measure the prevalence of features of osteoarthritis (OA), in the dominant hand, knees and hips using ultrasound, within the Newcastle Thousand Families birth cohort.Methods: Participants were aged 61-63 (mean 63) years. Knee images were scored for presence of osteophytes and effusion. Hip images were scored for the presence of osteophytes and femoral head abnormality. The first carpometacarpal joint, metacarpophalangeal, proximal interphalangeal and distal interphalangeal joints of the index finger (dominant hand) were imaged for osteophytes.Results: Among 311 participants, prevalence of osteophytes at the distal interphalangeal joint was 70% while it was 23%, 10% and 41% for index proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal and thumb base carpometacarpal joints respectively. Prevalence of knee osteophytes was 30%, hip OA was 41%. Prevalence of knee effusions was 24% (right) and 20% (left). Ultrasound evidence of generalised OA (48%) and isolated hand OA (31%) was common, compared to isolated hip or knee OA (5%) and both hip and knee OA (3%).Conclusion: This is the first study to assess prevalence of ultrasound features of OA in a population-based sample. The higher prevalence of hand/hip OA, when compared to previous radiographic studies, supports the hypothesis that ultrasound is more sensitive than radiography in detecting OA, particularly for osteophytes.
Author(s): Abraham AM, Pearce MS, Mann KD, Francis RM, Birrell F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Year: 2014
Volume: 15
Print publication date: 19/05/2014
Acceptance date: 15/05/2014
Date deposited: 10/09/2014
ISSN (electronic): 1471-2474
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-15-162
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2474-15-162
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