Diet, Lifestyle, and Hip Osteoarthritis in Women

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent disease among aging adults, projected to soon affect nearly one billion people worldwide. It bears the hallmarks of structural joint changes leading to stiffness, pain, and a decreased ability to perform normal daily functions. Despite the large number of people affected by this debilitating disease, current research on dietary and lifestyle factors that may be related to hip osteoarthritis in women has been limited. Findings have included that intakes of garlic, onions, leeks, and non-citrus fruit were inversely associated with hip OA. Sugar-sweetened beverages and alcohol have been minimally studied in relation to hip OA, although consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has been associated with knee OA progression in men, and alcohol intake has been associated with an increased risk of hand OA. No association between alcohol consumption and hip OA was found in an earlier study using the Nurses’ Health Study cohort, but at the time fewer cases of hip OA had occurred. Studies of physical activity and hip OA have revealed divergent results, with no association as well as harmful and protective associations having been found. Our aim was to further investigate the relationship between discretionary physical activity and hip OA, and to determine the associations between sugar-sweetened beverages and alcohol with hip OA in women. In Chapter 1 we evaluated the association between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and hip OA. We found no overall association between sugar-sweetened beverages and hip OA, even when investigating latency periods of up to 20-24 years. In Chapter 2 we evaluated the association between alcohol consumption and hip OA. We found a potentially important, positive dose-response relationship. This relationship was seen for both wine and liquor consumption, remained with latency periods up to 20-24 years, and alcohol consumption earlier in mid-life was also significantly associated with hip OA. In Chapter 3 we evaluated the association between discretionary physical activity and hip OA. While total discretionary physical activity was not associated with hip OA, when we investigated individual forms of physical activity we found that high joint-load activity, such as running and racquet sports, were associate with a higher risk of hip OA.