Can We Determine Osteoarthritis Severity Based on Systemic Immuno-Inflammatory Index?

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Rheumatology
• Hematology

Background:

• Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent joint disease.
• Hematologic markers are explored for OA severity assessment and prognosis.
• The systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) is investigated as a potential OA severity marker.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) as a marker for assessing osteoarthritis severity.
• To determine if SII can differentiate between mild-to-moderate and severe knee OA.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 946 knee OA patients (aged 18-75) diagnosed between 2020-2022.
• Patients classified into mild-to-moderate (Kellgren-Lawrence stages 1-3) and severe (stage 4) OA groups.
• Complete blood count data, including SII, analyzed for differences between groups.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant differences in age, gender, hemoglobin, lymphocytes, and SII were observed between OA severity groups (p < 0.05).
• An SII cutoff of 627.9 demonstrated 42.5% sensitivity and 70.6% specificity in distinguishing severe OA from mild-moderate OA.
• The study included 449 patients in the mild-to-moderate group and 497 in the severe group.

Conclusions:

• The systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) has limited predictive value for assessing knee osteoarthritis severity.
• This study is the first to investigate SII in knee OA, suggesting a need for further research.
• Future studies should focus on longitudinal designs to establish causality and explore therapeutic implications of SII in OA.