Family History and Consanguine Marriages a Genetic Risk Predictor for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Case-Control Study

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Objective: To evaluate the association and risk estimation between Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) with family history and consanguineous marriages among parents of study population. Methodology: This hospital-based case-control study was conducted at, Tertiary Care Hospital in Sindh, Pakistan from December 2019 to December 2022, to evaluate the risk of KOA, a very common musculoskeletal disease, and the association between study participants' family history and parental consanguinity outcome. Using non-probability convenience sampling, 949 study participants, 190 cases and 759 controls were selected. IBM-SPSS version 23.0 was used to analyze the data. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical data. The Pearson Chi Square test was used to investigate the association. Binary Logistic Regression Analysis was performed using a Univariate and Multivariate Model for the variables associated with KOA, as parents' blood relation and family history. Results: In the study 949 people were enlisted to participate. A positive family history of OA was found to be associated with knee OA (68.9%), with first-degree relatives accounting for 40% of cases. The results showed relatively high consanguinity rate of about 77.9% and 52.6% of these marriages are of the first cousin and closer marriage type. The Multivariate Logistic Regression Model of KOA with the third degree parental consanguity pattern and history of OA among family members indicated a significant association (p=<0.05). Conclusion: The study established a baseline and highlighted the significance of parental consanguity and family history as risk factors for KOA and illustrated the importance towards implementation of preventive measures.