Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Erosion Identification in Metacarpophalangeal Joints in Rheumatoid Arthritis using High-Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography
Published on: October 6, 2023
Relationship between Heberden's nodes and underlying radiographic changes of osteoarthritis
1Academic Rheumatology, University of Nottingham, Clinical Sciences Building, City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK.
Objective:
To determine whether clinically determined Heberden's nodes (HN) and Bouchard's nodes (BN) are associated with underlying individual radiographic changes of osteoarthritis (OA).
Methods:
232 index patients with symptomatic large joint and/or hand OA, and 257 of their first degree relatives were included. HN were graded 0-2; BN were scored as present/absent. Joint space narrowing (JSN) and osteophyte (OST) were each scored 0-3 using the OARSI atlas. A weighted kappa test was used to examine intraobserver reproducibility. Odds ratio (OR) was estimated for the relationship between nodes and associated JSN and OST.
Results:
The adjusted OR of HN for underlying JSN in the same digit was 1.72 (95% CI 1.47 to 2.02), whereas for OST it was higher at 5.15 (95% CI 4.37 to 6.08). A similar trend was seen with BN and underlying OA, with OST having a higher OR (OR = 2.98, 95% CI 2.55 to 3.47) than JSN (OR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.37 to 1.91).
Conclusion:
There is a positive relationship between HN/BN and underlying radiographic changes of OA, especially OST. Nodes do appear to link pathologically to OA in interphalangeal joints.
