Knee chondrocalcinosis not a risk factor for arthroplasty, disease progression in knee OA

In patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA), the presence of knee chondrocalcinosis (CC) does not appear exert any influence on the risk of arthroplasty or disease progression at 5 years, according to a study.

The study used data from the KHOALA* cohort and included 656 patients (mean age, 62.2 years; 70.3 percent female), among whom 93 (14.2 percent) had knee CC and 91 (13.9 percent) underwent total knee replacement (TKR) surgery during the follow‐up.

Patients with vs without CC were older, had longer disease duration, and had a slightly lower BMI. There were no significant differences observed in pain levels and function impairment, as assessed a visual analogue scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC). Kellgren‐Lawrence (KL) grades were also similar.

In Cox proportional‐hazard regression and generalized estimating equations models, the risk of TKR was not associated with the presence of knee CC (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.74–2.17). The same was true for the risk of incident total joint (knee or hip) replacement (HR, 1.14, 95 percent CI, 0.68–1.92).

In the subgroup of patients without incident TKR, knee CC did not alter the risk of worsening of KL grade (odds ratio [OR], 0.9, 95 percent CI, 0.4–1.7), WOMAC pain (OR, 1.1, 95 percent CI, 0.7–1.4) or WOMAC function (OR, 0.9, 95 percent CI, 0.4–2.0) scores.

*Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Long-term Assessment