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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Bone Research
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1536341
Effect of diabetes mellitus on physical function in patients with osteoarthritis: A cross-sectional observational study
Provisionally accepted
Zhiqiang Que 1
Wen-Bin Xu 2
Keyi Xiao 1 Cunbin Chen 1 Jianghao Shu 1
Huang Yu-xuan 1
Ding-Qiang Chen 1
Gang Rui 1*- 1 First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
- 2 Department of Joint Surgery, Ningbo No. 6 Hospital, Ningbo, China
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic disease among the elderly, causing pain, functional limitations, and a decline in quality of life. Diabetes mellitus (DM), a prevalent metabolic disorder, has been proven to have an association with OA. However, the specific impact of DM on the physical function of OA patients remains lack of in-depth exploration. This study aims to investigate whether OA patients with DM (DMOA) experience more severe physical function limitations. Method: The study utilized National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1999-2018. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between DMOA and physical function limitations. Stratified analysis was applied to assess the stability of these results. Results: DMOA patients exhibited significantly worse physical function compared to those OA patiants who do not complicated with DM (non-DMOA), especially in high-intensity and frequent joint use activities like walking long distances (OR = 1.870, 95%CI[1.243,2.814], P = 0.003), crouching (OR = 1.417, 95%CI[1.116, 1.799], P = 0.005), and standing for long periods (OR = 1.423,95%CI[1.141,1.774], P = 0.002). Even after adjusting for demographics, socioeconomic and health factors, the association between DMOA and physical function impairment remained significant. Conclusion: This study reveled that the DMOA population has worse physical function than non-DMOA population, especially in high-intensity and frequent joint use activities. Managing DM in OA patients is crucial to improve their physical function and overall quality of life. The impact of DM should be considered in the selection of therapeutic agents and care for OA.
Keywords: Osteoarthritis, diabetes, physical function, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cross sectional study
Received: 28 Nov 2024; Accepted: 01 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Que, Xu, Xiao, Chen, Shu, Yu-xuan, Chen and Rui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Gang Rui, First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
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