Low Birth Weight a Factor in THA

An Australian study has found that babies born preterm and with a low birth weight are at an increased risk for osteoarthritis (OA) and hip replacement later in life. The study also found that those same babies were not at greater risk of knee joint replacement due to their osteoarthritis as adults.

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Journal, Arthritis Care & Research, published the study. Researchers used data from 3, 604 participants in the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study. All were 40 years of age or older at the time the data was collected and were able to provide information on their weight at birth and if they had been prematurely delivered.

Researchers then linked this information to hip and knee replacement records from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry. Of the participants, 116 had had knee replacement surgery and 75 had had hip arthroplasty for OA. According to the press release, ”low birth weight and preterm birth were linked to an increased incidence of hip arthroplasty independent of age, sex, body mass index, education level, hypertension, diabetes, smoking or physical activity.”

“Our findings suggest that individuals born prematurely or with low birth weight are more likely to need hip replacement surgery for OA in adulthood, ” concluded lead investigator Professor Flavia Cicuttini, with the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University and Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. She added, “Currently there are no disease-modifying medications available to treat OA, which makes understanding the risk factors associated with OA so important for improving prevention of this disabling disease.”