Association between type 2 diabetes status and osteoarthritis in adults aged ≥ 50 years

Increasingly, studies have addressed the possible association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and osteoarthritis (OA), although this remains an issue of controversy. Our aim in this study was to investigate the association between T2DM and OA among 7781 adults ≥50 years of age, through a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2011 through 2018.Amultivariable logistic regression model was used to evaluate the association between T2DM or prediabetes status and OA, with subgroup analyses performed, stratified by age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and race.Of the 7781 participants enrolled, 1567 (20.1%) had T2DM, 3131 (40.3%) had prediabetes, and 3083 (39.6%) were normal. A significant positive association was identified between T2DM and OA, after adjusting for age, sex, and race. This association, however, was no longer significant after adjusting for BMI. In the fully-adjusted model, there were no significant association between T2DM and OA.Our findings showed no association between T2DM and OA. The association between T2DM and OA can be strongly confounded by BMI.