Incident hand OA is strongly associated with reduced peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length

ObjectiveTo evaluate the relationship of telomere length to the prevalence and incidence of hand osteoarthritis in a longitudinal cohort.DesignWe conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of data from a subset of participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) recruited between February 2004 and May 2006. 274 individuals were eligible for the study based on availability of both baseline and 48-month hand radiographs and...