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Updated: May 15, 2026

Tissue Collection and RNA Extraction from the Human Osteoarthritic Knee Joint
06:06

Tissue Collection and RNA Extraction from the Human Osteoarthritic Knee Joint

Published on: July 22, 2021

Cardiovascular health and osteoarthritis risk: a prospective cohort study with proteomic insights from UK Biobank

Jingjing Luo1, Xinqiao Chen2, Naifei Chen2

  • 1Rheumatology and Immunology Department, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.

RMD Open
|May 13, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Improving cardiovascular health, measured by Life's Essential 8 (LE8), is linked to significantly lower osteoarthritis (OA) risk. This association suggests that optimizing heart health may be a key strategy for preventing OA development.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Health
  • Osteoarthritis Research
  • Proteomics

Background:

  • Cardiovascular disease and osteoarthritis (OA) share risk factors, but the direct link between comprehensive cardiovascular health and OA incidence remains unclear.
  • Investigated the association of Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metric with OA risk and explored underlying proteomic mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between Life's Essential 8 (LE8) scores and the risk of developing osteoarthritis.
  • To identify potential proteomic pathways that mediate the association between cardiovascular health and OA.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized UK Biobank data from 102,794 participants without OA at baseline.
  • Assessed incident OA through medical records and analyzed LE8 components.
  • Employed Cox models for hazard ratio estimation and plasma proteomics in a subset to identify key proteins and construct a protein risk score.

Main Results:

  • Higher LE8 scores were associated with a significantly lower risk of OA, with the highest quartile showing a 32% reduction (HR 0.68).
  • This protective association was observed across knee, hip, and hand OA and was more pronounced with younger phenotypic age.
  • Proteomics identified nine proteins linked to LE8 and OA, and a protein risk score demonstrated a graded positive association with OA risk.

Conclusions:

  • Enhanced cardiovascular health, as indicated by higher LE8 scores, is substantially associated with reduced OA risk.
  • Biological aging modifies this relationship, and proteomic pathways related to metabolism, inflammation, and tissue remodeling may be involved.
  • Optimizing cardiovascular health is a promising strategy for osteoarthritis prevention.
Abstract

Keywords:
Cardiovascular DiseasesEpidemiologyOsteoarthritisPublic Health

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