Factors associated with pain and osteoarthritis at the hip and knee in Great Britain’s Olympians: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundKnowledge of the epidemiology and potentially modifiable factors associated with musculoskeletal disease is an important first step in injury prevention among elite athletes.AimThis study investigated the prevalence and factors associated with pain and osteoarthritis (OA) at the hip and knee in Great Britain’s (GB) Olympians aged 40 and older.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study. A survey was distributed to 2742 GB Olympians living in 30 countries. Of the 714 (26.0%) who responded, 605 were eligible for analysis (ie, aged 40 and older).ResultsThe prevalence of hip and knee pain was 22.4% and 26.1%, and of hip and knee OA was 11.1% and 14.2%, respectively. Using a multivariable model, injury was associated with OA at the hip (adjusted OR (aOR) 10.85; 95% CI 3.80 to 30.96) and knee (aOR 4.92; 95% CI 2.58 to 9.38), and pain at the hip (aOR 5.55; 95% CI 1.83 to 16.86) and knee (aOR 2.65; 95% CI 1.57 to 4.46). Widespread pain was associated with pain at the hip (aOR 7.63; 95% CI 1.84 to 31.72) and knee (aOR 4.77; 95% CI 1.58 to 14.41). Older age, obesity, knee malalignment, comorbidities, hypermobility and weight-bearing exercise were associated with hip and knee OA and/or pain.ConclusionsThis study detected an association between several factors and hip and knee pain/OA in retired GB Olympic athletes. These associations require further substantiation in retired athletes from other National Olympic Committees, and through comparison with the general population. Longitudinal follow-up is needed to investigate the factors associated with the onset and progression of OA/pain, and to determine if modulation of such factors can reduce the prevalence of pain and OA in this population.

Self-reported sports injuries and later-life health status in 3357 retired Olympians from 131 countries: a cross-sectional survey among those competing in the games between London 1948 and PyeongChang 2018

“…Significant joint injury is a risk factor for the development of OA, and evidence in retired athletes from football, [57][58][59] Rugby Union 60 and most recently Olympic sports 25 speaks to an association between joint injury and ongoing pain, and the development and progression of OA. It is important, however, to understand if the rate of OA differs between Olympians and the general population.…”

“…[18][19][20][21] Increasing our understanding of the characteristics and aetiology of injuries faced by elite athletes across their athletic career will help inform strategies 22 aimed at mitigating the risk of injury and their longterm consequences. [23][24][25] Therefore, we aimed to describe (1) the prevalence and nature of Olympic career-related injuries, (2) general health status and (3) athletes' self-report of injury-related residual symptoms.…”

Association between the aspartic acid D-repeat polymorphisms and osteoarthritis susceptibility

“…The reason may be contributed to that the pooled sample size of case and control in KOA were 3158 and 4953 respectively and were larger than those in hip OA including 1865 patients and 2164 controls. The prevalence of KOA is higher than hip OA, [ 32 , 33 ] suggesting that it is easier for researchers to enroll and investigate KOA patients than hip OA patients. In addition, the associations of D-repeat polymorphisms with KOA were performed for Caucasians, Asians and Latin Americas, [ 13 , 16 , 19 ] but the associations of hip OA were not carried out in Latin Americas, which further support the hypothesis that researchers are easier to investigate patients with KOA than hip OA.…”

Cricket related hand injury is associated with increased odds of hand pain and osteoarthritis

“…However, the long-term effects of sports-related hand injury is unclear. In the lower limb, sport-related injury to the knee and hip is an established risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) development 4 – 8 . OA has a large personal and economic health burden, and OA treatment costs have been estimated at £579 per person per annum 9 .…”