Low vitamin K status is associated with abnormal cartilage, bone mineralizations and osteoarthritis in the hand and knee. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Low vitamin K status is associated with osteoarthritis in the hand and knee.
Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Apr;54(4):1255-61. PMID: 16572460
Boston University School of Medicine, and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA. [email protected]
OBJECTIVE: Poor intake of vitamin K is common. Insufficient vitamin K can result in abnormal cartilage and bone mineralization. Furthermore, osteophyte growth, seen in osteoarthritis (OA), may be a vitamin K-dependent process. We undertook this study to determine whether vitamin K deficiency is associated with radiographic features of OA. METHODS: We conducted an analysis among 672 participants (mean age 65.6 years, 358 women) in the Framingham Offspring Study, a population-based prospective observational cohort. Levels of plasma phylloquinone (the primary form of vitamin K) had previously been measured in these participants, for whom we also had bilateral hand and knee radiographs. The main outcomes were 1) prevalence ratios (PRs) of OA, osteophytes, and joint space narrowing (JSN) per quartile of plasma phylloquinone level for each joint, adjusting for correlated joints using generalized estimating equations, and 2) adjusted mean number of joints with each feature per quartile of plasma phylloquinone level. Analyses were conducted in hands and knees separately and adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, total energy intake, plasma vitamin D, and femoral neck bone mineral density. RESULTS: The PRs for OA, osteophytes, and JSN and adjusted mean number of joints with all 3 features in the hand decreased significantly with increasing plasma phylloquinone levels (P