Mutual associations among musculoskeletal diseases and metabolic syndrome components: A 3-year follow-up of the ROAD study

Objective. This study aimed to assess the mutual associations between musculoskeletal diseases (knee osteoarthritis [KOA], lumbar spondylosis [LS], osteoporosis [OP]) and metabolic syndrome components (obesity [OB], hypertension [HT], dyslipidemia [DL], impaired glucose tolerance [IGT]). Methods. Of the 1,690 participants (596 men, 1,094 women) at baseline, 1,384 individuals (81.9%; 466 men, 918 women) had complete data at the first follow-up in 2008. Logistic regression analysis included the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the musculoskeletal diseases or metabolic components as the outcome variable and the remaining musculoskeletal diseases and metabolic components at baseline as explanatory variables, adjusted for age, sex, residential region, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Results. The risk of KOA occurring increased significantly with HT (odds ratio [OR], 2.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22-5.42; p = 0.013) and IGT (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.07-3.70; p = 0.029). The risk of OP occurring at the lumbar spine increased with OP at the femoral neck (OR, 4.21; 95% CI 1.46-12.1; p = 0.008), and vice versa (OR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.01-479; p = 0.047). KOA increased the risk of HT (Kellgren-Lawrence [KL] grade=0, 1 vs. KL = 2: OR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.09-3.12; p = 0.024) and DL (KL = 0, 1 vs. KL >= 3: OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.05-2.61; p = 0.029) occurring. Reciprocal relationships existed between the presence of metabolic components and the occurrence of the other metabolic components. Conclusion. Mutual relationships existed between the occurrence and presence of musculoskeletal diseases, particularly KOA, and metabolic syndrome components.