Two more Studies on Osteoarthritis at the ACR 2012 Meeting in Washington

I’m still reading studies presented at the last ACR meeting. I’d like to talk about two studies on osteoarthritis.

Bing Lu and colleagues looked into “Soft Drink Intake and Progression of Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis: Data From the Osteoarthritis Initiative” (Abstract No. 745). Their Conclusion: “Our results suggest that frequent consumption of soft drinks may be associated with increased OA progression in men.”
There is a positive association between uric acid level and knee osteoarthritis, but Lu’s study didn’t look into uric acid. Soft drinks might contain fructose and this increases uric acid levels. So uric acid or fructose might be the missing link. According to the study, lifestyle is an issue.

The second study has been presented by Xavier Chevalier and colleagues: “A Randomized, Multicentre, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Anti TNF Alpha (adalimumab) in Refractory Hand Osteoarthritis: The Dora Study” (Abstract No. 2472). Conclusion: “In a group of patients with refractory hand OA, TNFa blockers (adalimumab, 2 sc injections) failed to demonstrate any clinical improvement.” Even if “TNF a is involved in the osteoarthritic process” and osteoarthritis might present flares, TNF alpha doesn’t play the prominent role in osteoarthritis that it does in rheumatoid arthritis. So for me the results of this study are as I would have predicted. I guess the force behind was greed, looking for another field, where to get a FDA or EMA approval. Good, that this study has been published!