Chondrocalcinosis of the Knee and the Risk of Osteoarthritis Progression: Data From the Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Long‐term Assessment Cohort

Abstract

Objective To assess the impact of knee chondrocalcinosis (CC) on the 5‐year risk of joint replacement and disease progression in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods Patients with symptomatic KOA without previous total joint (knee or hip) replacement (TJR) were recruited from the KHOALA cohort. Cox proportional‐hazard regression and generalized estimating equations models were used to compare the time from inclusion or OA diagnosis to total knee replacement (TKR) or TJR between patients with or without knee CC at inclusion. In patients without incident TKR, logistic regression was performed to examine the association between CC and radiographic progression (Kellgren‐Lawrence [KL] grade) or worsening of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) scores for OA pain or function between years 0 and 5. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, WOMAC scores and KL grade. Results Among the 656 patients included, 93 (14.2%) had knee CC, and 91 (13.9%) underwent TKR during the follow‐up. Risk of TKR was not affected by the presence of knee CC (HR 1.26; 95% CI 0.74‐2.17). Similar results were obtained for risk of incident TJR (HR 1.14; 0.68‐1.92). For patients without incident TKR, knee CC did not affect the risk of worsening of KL grade (OR 0.9; 0.4‐1.7) or WOMAC pain (OR 1.1; 0.7‐1.4)/function (OR 0.9; 0.4‐2.0) scores. Conclusion In patients with symptomatic KOA, the presence of knee CC did not affect the risk of arthroplasty or disease progression at 5 years.