Your chances of needing a knee or hip replacement might be written in your genes

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-04 17:01

Australia; VIC

Australian researchers have identified 10 genetic variations that can help predict a person’s risk of needing knee replacement surgery, and 37 genetic variations that can help predict the risk of needing a hip replacement. Using these genetic variants they created genetic based risk scores and tested them on over 12,000 people aged over 70. They found that those with high risk scores had a 1.44-times higher chance of having had a knee replacement and a 1.88-times higher chance of having had a hip replacement, compared with those with low risk scores. The authors say these sorts of risk scores have the potential to improve the prevention of severe knee and hip osteoarthritis by identifying those who may benefit from early intervention.

Media release

From: Wiley

Genetic score predicts individuals’ risk of needing knee and hip replacements

A research team has developed a risk score based on individuals’ genetic data to predict their likelihood of needing hip or knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis. The score’s predictive ability was validated in a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

The score incorporates 10 genetic sequence variants for predicting a person’s risk of needing knee replacement surgery and 37 genetic sequence variants for predicting the risk of needing hip replacement surgery.

Among 12,093 individuals of European genetic descent aged ≥70 years, 1,422 (11.8%) had knee replacements and 1,297 (10.7%) had hip replacements. Participants with high risk scores had a 1.44-times higher odds of knee replacement and a 1.88-times higher odds of hip replacement, compared with those with low risk scores.

“Genetic scores, such as the one we developed, do not change over a person’s life. They provide an individual with further information about their risk of severe osteoarthritis in later life and have the potential to improve prevention of severe knee and hip osteoarthritis by identifying those who may benefit from early intervention,” said senior author Flavia Cicuttini, PhD, of Monash University, in Australia.

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Journal/
conference: Arthritis & Rheumatology

Organisation/s: Monash University

Funder: This work was supported by an ASPREE Flagship cluster grant (including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Monash University, Menzies Research Institute, Australian National University, University of Melbourne); and grants (U01AG029824 and U19AG062682) from the National Institute on Aging and the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, by grants (334047 and 1127060) from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC), and by Monash University and the Victorian Cancer Agency. PL is supported by a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (ID 102604). YW is the recipient of NHMRC Translating Research into Practice Fellowship (APP1168185). FC is the recipient of NHMRC Investigator Grant (APP1194829). The funder of the study had no role in the study design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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