Association between height and osteoarthritis of the knee and hip: The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether height at the age of 31 is associated with the incidence of knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA) in the following 15 years.

METHODS: Participants in The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966) diagnosed with knee or hip OA between the ages of 31 and 46 were used as OA cases. Study subjects without knee and hip OA were used as the controls. Height and weight were measured in a clinical examination at the age of 31 (baseline). Mean heights for the OA cases and the controls were compared by an independent samples t-test. Cox regression analysis was performed to calculate the risk for OA for different height quartiles. The results were adjusted for body mass index/weight, education, smoking and leisure-time physical activity at baseline. Additionally, a Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed.

RESULTS: Men with knee OA were 2.6 cm taller (P < 0.001) and women with knee OA 1.2 cm taller (P = 0.048) than the controls. Hip OA cases were found to be slightly shorter than the controls, but no statistically significant differences were observed. The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for knee OA and hip OA in the highest quartile were 2.5 (95% CI 1.4-4.5) and 1.0 (95% CI 0.3-3.4) for men and 1.8 (95% CI 1.0-3.1) and 0.7 (95% CI 0.2-2.3) for women.

CONCLUSIONS: Height at the age of 31 was associated with incidence of early knee OA, diagnosed prior to age 46. However, the low incidence of hip OA made our results for hip OA inconclusive.