07/06/2011 Active duty U.S. military service members are doing more than serving the nation; they are providing researchers with an important window into how osteoarthritis, or OA, affects a young, active segment of the population.
A new study, published online in June in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, found that active duty military personnel are at a significantly higher risk of developing OA than people in their age group in the general population.
“It’s pretty significant I think, because this group of people is obviously quite young,” says study author Kenneth Cameron, PhD, director of orthopaedic research at Keller Army Hospital in West Point, N.Y. “We think of OA as occurring in older individuals, but in a young, physically active population the burden can be quite high, and that’s a disease that will likely impact them their entire life.”
The researchers note that military personnel are exposed to repetitive joint-loading activities and tasks, and that osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability and medical discharge among service members.
OA Risk Assessed for All Four Service Branches
For his study, Cameron and his team retrospectively analyzed records from the Defense Medical Surveillance System, or DMSS, of physician-diagnosed cases of OA among all four branches of active duty U.S. service members. Between 1999 and 2008, 108,266 cases were reported.
The researchers focused on so-called “incidence rates” (the number of new cases of osteoarthritis that occur) as opposed to “prevalence” (which reflects the number of existing cases). Cameron says it’s generally hard for researchers to identify new cases, but the military offers a rare opportunity to do so because of its population, tracking ability and resources.
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