Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of disability in older adults worldwide. This study aimed to determine the associations between inflammatory markers, dietary intake and OA symptoms and pain. Understanding these associations has the potential to improve OA diagnostic and monitoring outcomes. Data from the ROAM (Researching Osteoarthritis and GreenShell Mussels) study collected from adults 55–80 years screened for OA signs and symptoms (n = 107, 65.7 years ± 6.34, 69% female) were assessed for associations between serum inflammatory markers (pg/mL), dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores and participants’ subjective measures of OA pain and symptoms. These included the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score questionnaire (KOOS) subscales: pain (P), symptoms other than pain (S), function in activities of daily living (ADL), function in sports/recreation (SP) and quality of life (QoL); Measure of Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain (ICOAP); Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) of pain (VAS1) and symptoms (VAS2). The DII score was determined from a food frequency questionnaire and based on 34 components. The inflammatory marker IL-23 was negatively associated with all the KOOS subscales P: β coefficient −0.18, (95%CI −0.31, −0.04), S: −0.31 (−0.48, −0.14), ADL: −0.20 (−0.34, −0.05), SP: −0.43 (−0.72, −0.15) and QoL: −0.28 (−0.48, −0.08) and was positively associated with VAS measures, VAS1: 0.36 (0.17, 0.55) and VAS2: 0.25 (0.002, 0.50). MCP-1 was negatively associated and IL-12 was positively associated with KOOS P: −0.14, (−0.28, −0.01) and 0.23 (0.07, 0.40), respectively. IL-17 was positively associated with KOOS SP: 0.45, (0.14, 0.77), and IFN-α2 was positively associated with VAS1: 0.24 (0.003, 0.48). ICOAP was not associated with inflammatory markers. Inflammatory markers and subjective measures were not associated with DII. The levels of IL-23, MCP-1 and IFN-α2 increase as the symptoms worsen, while the levels of IL-12 and IL-17 increase as the symptoms improve. These markers may be useful as diagnostic and assessment tools, however, further research is needed to confirm their exact roles in OA.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, C.S., P.R.v.H., M.K., M.M., H.M., K.L.B. and C.A.C.; methodology, C.S., P.R.v.H., M.K., M.M. and H.M.; validation, C.S., P.R.v.H., M.K., M.M., H.M., K.L.B. and C.A.C.; formal analysis, C.S. and H.M.; investigation, C.S. and H.M.; resources, P.R.v.H., M.K. and M.M.; data curation, C.S. and H.M.; writing—original draft preparation, C.S.; writing—review and editing, C.S., P.R.v.H., M.K., M.M., H.M., K.L.B. and C.A.C.; supervision, P.R.v.H., M.K., H.M., K.L.B. and C.A.C.; project administration, C.S. and H.M.; funding acquisition, C.S., P.R.v.H., M.K. and M.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by High Value Nutrition, grant number HVN1912.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Central Health and Disability Ethics Committee (reference 20/CEN/218, date: 9 November 2020).
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to ethical reasons and confidentiality.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Cassandra Slade received additional funding from The HOPE Foundation and Graduate Women New Zealand.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).